Federal Minister for Water and Power, Liaquat Ali Jatoi has said that import of cheap electricity from Iran to Balochistan would benefit both the countries and the consumers of the region. He directed the authorities concerned to remove bottlenecks in commissioning the project as early as possible.
The minister said that the import of 1,000 MW power from Central Asian states was also being actively pursued and presently a team was discussing the modalities for import at Montreal where Tajikistan, Kyrgystan and Afghanistan were also participating.
The minister said this while chairing a high level meeting to review the technical and financial aspects of import of power from Iran. The meeting was informed that presently 39 MW was being imported from Iran to meet demand of south-west Balochistan comprising Turbat, Gawadar and Panjgoor districts and the border towns of Mashkhail and Taftan.
Considering rapid development in and around Gawadar, another contract with M/s. TAVANIR for import of 100 MW had also been signed, it was told. During Pak-Iran joint economic commission in Islamabad, Wapda and TAVANIR agreed on a tariff of 6.25 cents/kwh for supply of additional 100 MW power to Gawadar by TAVANIR, which was approved by the ECC.
The meeting also discussed the proposal of laying 55 kilometer 220 KV transmission line inside Pakistan for which financial assistance was being given by the Iranian government. The Iranian company would bear the cost of 65km line in Iran to provide power to Pakistan at its border.
The meeting also discussed financing and other aspects of the project and decided to send a larger technical group including Finance Ministry's Representative to Iran to further clarify the terms and conditions and other modalities for quick implementation of the project. The minister stressed the need for expediting the efforts for early completion of the project for importing cheap electricity from Iran for Balochistan.
The meeting also discussed import of 1,000 MW power from Iran for which an MoU has already been signed by the two countries in April, 2007. The team will also finalise various aspects of the project with their counterparts in Iran shortly.
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