Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and M/s China Group Company Limited (CGGC) on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up three imported coal-fired plants of 600mw each at Gadani Power Park. Managing Director of PPIB Noor-ul Amin Zuberi signed the MoU on behalf of the Government of Pakistan (GoP), while the president of Gezhouba Group Chen Xiao Hua signed on behalf of the company.
Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif witnessed the signing of the MoU between CGGC and PPIB. Secretary Water & Power Saif Ullah Chattha and other senior officials of the government were also present on the occasion. Insiders in the Ministry of Water and Power argue that since Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Nargis Sethi has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakistan Power Park Management Company Limited (PPMCL), MoUs are being signed by the PPIB, which is considered an unusual practice.
In the MoU, CGGC has expressed interest to install three projects of 660 MW each (1980 MW) based on imported coal at Gadani. Earlier in January this year, the PPIB had signed an MoU with CGGC in Beijing for the development of a 660 MW power plant at Gadani, however the CGGC has shown interest in developing another three plants at Gadani thus totalling 2,640 MW with an investment outlay of 3.5 to 4 billion US Dollars.
Minister for Water and Power said that relations between China and Pakistan are of historical importance. He said that during the recent visit of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to China, the Chinese leadership committed to substantial investments in various sectors of our economy including power sector and Chinese companies are keen to make business ventures in Pakistan, M/s Gezhouba being one of them.
He said the initiative of Power Park at Gadani has evoked a lot of interest in the international as well as local investors'' community. He also told the press that presently, CGGC is playing a key role in the construction of 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Plant as a lead contractor in collaboration with China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation and is also the EPC contractor for the 840 MW SukiKinari Hydropower Project in the private sector which is expected to achieve its financial close by July 2014; however, the construction of the project is expected to start within a couple of months.
The Minister said that these upcoming power plants will require transmission line facilities for transmitting power to the national grid, and the government has decided that transmission lines will also be built by the private sector in an IPP mode. For this, procedures are being laid down and Transmission Line Policy will soon be launched after due approval of the Cabinet. In this regard a follow-up meeting was held at Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) with State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) which is keen to invest in Pakistan to lay high and low voltage transmission lines. The meeting was attended by the high officials of SGCC, Secretary Water and Power, Managing Director NTDC, Managing Director PPIB amongst other officials of Ministry of Water and Power. These transmission lines will be for Quetta, Jamshoro, Faisalabad and Lahore. The government has already offered two tariffs for imported projects, ie, tariff with a jetty and tariff without a jetty. "If any company invests in a jetty, investment will be covered in tariff. GoP will extend a sovereign guarantee,
CGGC has high stakes in large dams in China like the Three Gorges, Shuibuya, Jinping I, and Longtan Dam, and its business reaches out to over 70 countries in Asia, Africa and America. In 2012, CGGC ranked no. 62 among the top 225 international contractors in the world and 42nd largest contractor by revenue in the world, which is approximately $7.5 billion. Provision of services like jetty switchyard, ash disposal, cooling water, transmission infrastructure and residential facilities would be the responsibility of the government of Pakistan.
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