Hubco allowed to build two imported coal-based plants

Earlier, govt had permitted construction of only one power unit

KARACHI: The government has allowed Hub Power Company (Hubco) to press ahead with its original plan of setting up two power plants of 660-megawatt each (total 1,320 megawatts) on imported coal.

“The Private Power and Infrastructure Board has now called a meeting to discuss the extension in financial close and the signing of Implementation Agreement for 2x660MW imported coal-based power plants at Hub (Balochistan),” Shamsul Islam, Hubco Secretary, said in a notification to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday.

A high official of the company told The Express Tribune that Hubco was expected to arrange financing for the new power project by June 2017.



Total cost of the project is estimated at $1.8 billion, according to an earlier communiqué. He said one of the power plants would start commercial production by December 2018 while the second plant would come online by August 2019.

Hubco’s share price rose 4.03% in a bull run on the PSX on Friday. It gained Rs4.75 and closed at Rs122.63 with volume of 2.7 million shares.

In October, the government had placed restrictions, allowing the company to set up only one plant. The move came in the wake of government’s policy to not approve more power plants based on imported coal after October 14, 2016.



However, companies that had met financial close before that date and/or were part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects were exempted from the restriction.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2016.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.