Nandipur plant: Power minister protests Punjab’s meddling in affairs
Project cost soars to Rs84 billion, comes in for a lot of flak.
ISLAMABAD:
The federal government has voiced its anger over what it calls interference by Punjab in implementing the 425-megawatt Nandipur power project as its cost has jumped 47% from earlier estimates.
Tension between the federal government and Punjab erupted over the power project in a meeting of the cabinet on September 22, officials said.
During the deliberations, Water and Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif hit out at the Punjab government for meddling in affairs pertaining to the Nandipur project.
“The Punjab government does not listen to me and I am helpless in the case of Nandipur power project,” an official quoted Asif as saying. He protested and walked out of the meeting.
The cost of the project, shut down for months with power production cost at Rs41 per unit, has come in for strong criticism as it has gone up to Rs84 billion compared to earlier estimate of Rs57 billion.
A former managing director of Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) also wrote a letter to the Supreme Court, calling the cost surge a white collar scam following a revised deal with a Chinese contractor.
According to officials, the Ministry of Water and Power, which was upset about the criticism, insisted that it had only mobilised the Chinese contractor and all negotiations were made by Project Director Mohammad Mehmood.
“The water and power ministry has nothing to do with the revised deal with the Chinese contractor,” the official quoted the ministry as saying.
In the last week of September, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) held a public hearing of a petition filed by Northern Generation Power Company for setting the rate of tariff for electricity to be generated by the Nandipur powerhouse.
During the hearing, it was disclosed that the project cost had gone up sharply to Rs84 billion, a cause for concern for the regulator.
Project Managing Director Mohammad Mehmood pleaded that the cost soared mainly because of an inordinate delay in executing the project. The machinery for the power plant was kept at the Port Qasim for a long time where it lost its efficiency, he said.
He also called for setting the tariff at Rs41 per unit for electricity generated by diesel, Rs26 for furnace oil-based electricity and Rs12.47 for gas-based power production. The MD said if the project was not completed, then the government would have to suffer a loss of Rs38 billion.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2014.
The federal government has voiced its anger over what it calls interference by Punjab in implementing the 425-megawatt Nandipur power project as its cost has jumped 47% from earlier estimates.
Tension between the federal government and Punjab erupted over the power project in a meeting of the cabinet on September 22, officials said.
During the deliberations, Water and Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif hit out at the Punjab government for meddling in affairs pertaining to the Nandipur project.
“The Punjab government does not listen to me and I am helpless in the case of Nandipur power project,” an official quoted Asif as saying. He protested and walked out of the meeting.
The cost of the project, shut down for months with power production cost at Rs41 per unit, has come in for strong criticism as it has gone up to Rs84 billion compared to earlier estimate of Rs57 billion.
A former managing director of Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) also wrote a letter to the Supreme Court, calling the cost surge a white collar scam following a revised deal with a Chinese contractor.
According to officials, the Ministry of Water and Power, which was upset about the criticism, insisted that it had only mobilised the Chinese contractor and all negotiations were made by Project Director Mohammad Mehmood.
“The water and power ministry has nothing to do with the revised deal with the Chinese contractor,” the official quoted the ministry as saying.
In the last week of September, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) held a public hearing of a petition filed by Northern Generation Power Company for setting the rate of tariff for electricity to be generated by the Nandipur powerhouse.
During the hearing, it was disclosed that the project cost had gone up sharply to Rs84 billion, a cause for concern for the regulator.
Project Managing Director Mohammad Mehmood pleaded that the cost soared mainly because of an inordinate delay in executing the project. The machinery for the power plant was kept at the Port Qasim for a long time where it lost its efficiency, he said.
He also called for setting the tariff at Rs41 per unit for electricity generated by diesel, Rs26 for furnace oil-based electricity and Rs12.47 for gas-based power production. The MD said if the project was not completed, then the government would have to suffer a loss of Rs38 billion.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2014.