The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday it will lend up to $100 million to UK-based International Power PLC to build a Pakistani gas-fired plant to help address the country's energy crisis. The 404-megawatt power plant in Balochistan is scheduled to be completed by September 2013.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan has long struggled to supply enough electricity and natural gas to consumers and industry, with total energy demand often outstripping supply by 22 percent or about 6,000 MW - according to analysts - in summer months. The problem is likely to worsen without new generating capacity, the ADB said, but questions remain whether the new plant will be able to make much difference.
"On the face on it, it is a reasonably-sized plant and will help to alleviate the power shortage," Khalid Iqbal Siqqiqui, director at Invest & Finance Securities Ltd, told Reuters. "But again the problem is, will it be able to run? ... There are many plants right now which are idle because there is a shortage of gas." International Power is the single largest private investor in Pakistan's electricity sector.
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