Increasing power: Plans to upgrade MEPCO by December 2016

Prime minister approves project at cost of Rs16 billion.

MULTAN:

The Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) will be upgraded at a cost of Rs16.24 billion on the orders of the prime minister, according to MEPCO CEO Muzaffar Ali Abbasi. The upgrade is intended to reduce load-shedding in the MEPCO region and areas of southern Punjab. Abbasi said the upgrade of grid stations and installation of transmission lines will be completed by December 2016.

Abbasi said the PM is taking a keen interest in upgrading power transmission, distribution and generation system in the country. On the orders of the government, MEPCO forwarded a five-year plan titled ‘Integrated Generation, Transmission, Distribution Plan (IGTDP 2015-19)’ to the Ministry of Water and Power for approval. The plan comes at a cost of Rs35 billion.

Under the plan, seven new grid stations will be built with augmentation of eight others, while a grid station will undergo extension and a 702 kilometre-long 132KV transmission line will be installed, he said.

Moreover, 45,275 distribution transformers will be installed while another 3,360 obsolete transformers will be replaced. The MEPCO chief said he had also embarked on technical adjustments at a lower cost for balancing the load on feeders that paid dividends and addressed complaints of frequent fluctuation in areas including Rahimyar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan while problems of consumers in Sadiqabad would be resolved within a few days.

He said MEPCO had balanced the load at 52 feeders in the last ten days and the process will be completed by July 31. Abbasi said 110 projects of grid stations and transmission lines would also be completed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2014.