Sindh government to provide land: NTDC to execute 220kV grid station of Dhabeji SEZ

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) unanimously agreed that the NTDC itself would execute the 220kV grid station of Special Economic Zone Dhabeji and the Sindh government would provide the land and right of way and other ancillary facilities to the NTDC for construction of this project.

A special meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on the CPEC on the long-outstanding issue of supply of electricity to SEZ Dhabeji, Sindh, was held under the chairmanship of Sher Ali Arbab at the Parliament House, on Thursday afternoon.

The Committee discussed the issue in detail in the presence of secretary power, chairman Nepra, the secretary BoI, the deputy MD NTDC, and the secretary investment Sindh, in person, and K-Electric CEO through video-link.

After detailed deliberation, the committee decided that after the completion of grid station, the distribution of electricity will be handed over to the distributing agency as per law of the land at that time in consonance with the Special Economic Zones Act.

For this purpose, the Sindh government will start its work simultaneously without waiting for the construction of grid station by the NTDC. The secretary power assured the Committee that PC-I of this project would be revised and be submitted to the Planning Commission at fast track.

The Committee directed the Nepra to analyse the issues of the three prioritised Special Economic Zones regarding supply of electricity, and suggest resolution of these issues to the Committee.

The Committee further directed all the stakeholders to submit their progress reports with timelines regularly.

The meeting was attended by Noor Alam Khan, MNA, Raza Rabbani MNA, in person, and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq MNA (through video link).

Meanwhile, according to the sources, there is no legal importance of the CPEC Authority as CPEC Authority Ordinance 2019 has lapsed.

The experts said that now the CPEC Authority Chairman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa (Retd) has no legal and constitutional standing.

They said that now Bajwa cannot sign any legal document or MoUs.

The sources said the government would introduce a new legislation to give legal cover to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority.

They said that in this regard, the government was preparing a draft of legislation for establishment of the CPEC Authority.

A bill for legislation would be tabled in the Parliament after approval of the federal Cabinet.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020