LNG-based power projects: Tussle with Sindh could derail plans, Punjab concerned

Wants centre to intervene and address Sindh’s reservations

ISLAMABAD:

Punjab has voiced fears that a tussle with Sindh over liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports could derail LNG-based power projects and it is looking at the central government to step in and resolve issues for smoothly running the electricity plants.

“The resolution of constitutional issues pertaining to the jurisdiction of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) raised by the Sindh government is required for a smooth and unencumbered operation of power plants,” Quaid-e-Azam Power Park Company Chief Executive Officer Ahad Cheema said while briefing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a meeting on October 14.



Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have censured the federal government for planning to set up LNG-fuelled power plants in Punjab only and ignoring other provinces. Separately, Balochistan has also raised the issue over the centre’s indifference to the energy needs of other provinces.

Commenting on LNG imports, the Sindh government argued that the matter should have been taken up in the CCI for bringing all provinces on board. It has approached the CCI, asking it to review the mechanism established for LNG imports.

The provincial government also said after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, provinces had the right to explore all energy resources, including LNG import, according to the Article 154.



The chief executive officer of Quaid-e-Azam Power Park Company, which works under the government of Punjab, spoke in the meeting about overall progress on the LNG-based power project being developed in Bhikki while the Ministry of Water and Power briefed about the current status of projects being established in Haveli Bahadur Shah and Balloki.

They said contracts had been awarded to successful bidders for two of the three projects in September this year while work on awarding the contract for the Balloki project was going on.

Single-cycle operations at Bhikki power plant will start in March 2017 whereas Haveli Bahadur Shah and Balloki plants will begin similar operations in April 2017.



Combined-cycle operations at the Bhikki plant will start in December 2017 and at Haveli Bahadur Shah and Balloki in January 2018.

The CEO of the power park highlighted different issues that needed to be resolved for a smooth progress on the power projects. He pointed out that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) was to determine the tariff for the power plants.

He also discussed the approval of a power purchase agreement by the Economic Coordination Committee and signing of a gas supply accord by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited.



He suggested that an amendment in the Private Power and Infrastructure Board law was required to treat LNG-fuelled plants as independent power producers.

The CEO emphasised the need of completing gas pipelines, establishing a second LNG terminal at the Port Qasim and resolving constitutional issues regarding jurisdiction of the CCI for running the LNG power plants without any interruption.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2015.

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