A few feet away from disaster

Pakistan's largest independent power provider is facing imminent threat from flood.

KARACHI: Flooding is imminent at the Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco) power plant, the country’s largest independent power provider and source of ten per cent of the country’s total electricity supply.

Multiple eye witnesses told The Express Tribune that a single railway line, raised about ten feet above ground level, is all that remains between the power plant and thousands of cusecs of flood water.

Kot Addu and its surrounding areas were inundated on Tuesday when water rose above the banks of Muzaffargarh canal.

“The city of Kot Addu has been decimated by the flood. Our homes and lands have been completely submerged,” lamented Fayyaz Ahmed, a resident of Kot Addu. “The railway line is all that is keeping the water from flooding Kapco,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kapco has evacuated all non-essential employees from the plant premises and the associated residential colony has been shut down. Employees confirmed that water has in fact entered plant premises.

“Multan Road has been completely submerged and the power plant is now completely cut-off,” explained Hassan, an employee still stationed at the plant. The road was the only land link to provide fuel for the power plant.

Company sources revealed that the 1,600 megawatt plant is currently supplying only 350 megawatts of power to the Water and Power Development Authority.

They highlighted that at the current rate, fuel available at the premises would be used up within 48 hours. With the main road used to transport fuel to Kapco now submerged, it seems unlikely that fresh supplies will reach the plant until the water subsides.

“There were about 100 employees at the plant till Wednesday morning, but now only about 50 are left as the senior management has decided to evacuate the rest,” asserted an employee at the plant.

“Rescue efforts for Kot Addu city are being carried out from a base set up inside the plant,” claimed an army official who only identified himself as Muazzam over Kapco’s telephone line. He added that a temporary helipad has been set up inside the power plant’s premises.

To make matters worse, the irrigation department has warned of fresh flooding from the Taunsa-Panjnath link canal.

“Fresh flooding from the canal will be very dangerous because it will come from the opposite side. However, on this side there is no barrier like the railway line,” said an employee.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2010.