Claims filed: Turkish RPP seeks $2.1b in damages

Files ‘memorial’ with World Bank’s arbitration body against Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Karkey Karadeniz Electricity Production Corporation (Karkey) has filed a ‘memorial on the merits’ with the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), claiming $2.1 billion in damages from the Government of Pakistan. The damages have been calculated by independent international experts, it claims.

This is one of the largest claims filed with ICSID, the Washington DC-based arbitration body, says a press release.

The memorial on the merits puts in writing Karkey’s official position and the amount of damages to be claimed.

Karkey is seeking compensation from Pakistan for what it says breach of obligations under the bilateral investment treaty, breaches of international law and defiance of ICSID’s provisional measures, in connection with Karkey’s investment in a rental power project (RPP) in Karachi.

The initial contract value of Karkey’s Powership operations in Pakistan was $560 million for the duration of five years. The amount claimed includes damages as a result of the loss of earnings and costs associated with the detention of its vessels.

In the memorial filed on January 31, Karkey claimed that Pakistan had continued to detain its vessels since April 2012 even after issuance of a no-objection certificate by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), clearing the company of any wrongdoing.

The power producer also said Pakistan failed to comply with the provisional measures taken by the ICSID in October 2013 for the release of Turkish-flagged Powership Kaya Bey to Dubai for undergoing maintenance.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2014.

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