Conversion of Jamshoro Plant to local Thar coal: PD-KE dispute remains unresolved

ISLAMABAD: The dispute between the Power Division and K-Electric (KE) over the conversion of the Jamshoro Power Plant from imported coal to local Thar coal remains unresolved, as both sides continue to differ on the interpretation of minutes from several meetings, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.

According to KE, the minutes from the fifth Committee meeting—circulated on March 25, 2025—regarding the Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) for converting the plant to Thar coal do not accurately reflect KE’s position.

KE stated that it reviewed the minutes shared by the Power Division and subsequently submitted clarifications. During the Committee meeting, KE emphasised that its primary objective is to facilitate the timely initiation of technical assignments, as this component is critical and must be executed first.

Running power project on Thar coal: KE shifts onus of potential delays to Power Div

The power utility company has maintained that it is cognizant of the criticality of executing the study, within minimum possible time; however, it should be considered that the given study is a BFS, which has its own unique requirements.

The BFS includes multiple assignments as well as having the need to conduct an in-depth execution of all the works conducted during the course of the study.

Due to this very reason, it was apprised to the Committee members during its third meeting that the time required to carry out the complete study will be at least five months, based upon the feedback received from the consultant.

The consent of the Committee members was also received as the same understanding was documented within the Point #14 of the approved minutes of the third committee meeting held on January 14, 2025, prior to awarding the works to the consultant.

During the meeting, KE also provided a detailed breakdown of key milestones and execution strategy for conducting the BFS.

The milestones of the technical assignment will include kick-off meeting, site visit, inception report, design assessment, process design simulations, costing, and then finalisation of the draft report.

Further, it was mentioned that the inputs from the technical assignment will be going into the environmental study, to form its basis.

Moreover, the results of the technical assignment will also be forming the basis of the financial assignment, and the financial assignment can only be initiated once those technical inputs have been finalised. After this, inputs will be shared with National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC), which will carry out its assessment based upon the PLEXOS software simulation, providing the annual utilisation of the project after its conversion to Thar coal.

“Once the results from NTDC are made available, the economic consultant will then be able to finalise its recommendations with regards to the benefit of carrying out the conversion of the project,” the power utility company added.

According to KE, it highlighted that the proposed methodology is necessary to ensure that the quality of the study is maintained, and bankability requirements are met. By fast tracking the execution of the BFS, there is a risk of compromising the quality of the study. It was also apprised that the timelines of the consultant will start once all the input data required for the study will be made available.

“We would like to mention that the timelines provided in the minutes are not reflective of these considerations and the point of view provided by KE during the Committee meeting. Hence, the same should be updated by issuance of the revised minutes to incorporate KE’s point of view,” the sources quoted KE as conveying to the Power Division.

The KE is also of the view that it is its apprehension that due to the imposition of the unrealistic timelines proposed within the issued minutes of the subject meeting, the consultant may be forced to compromise the quality of its works or may limit the coverage of its scope. It is to further state that the directions provided by the Federal Minister of Power during the second review meeting held on January 28, 2025 were also that no compromise on quality of works should be made, as these planning errors cause huge economic losses, if not addressed during the project inception stage.

He also cited the example of a large public sector hydel project which is currently out of services due to unaddressed design issue, thereby, causing a great economic loss to the public exchequer and increasing the electricity tariffs for the consumers of Pakistan. Furthermore, there is also chance that the bank ability requirement of the works may not be met as well.

“KE’s intent is to carry out a thorough exercise, so that the approval of key stakeholders like the Asian Development Bank and others may be successfully achieved. We believe that under your dynamic leadership; all those efforts will be made, that would help avoid the shortcomings that were found within the earlier studies of similar nature, which were unfortunately not accepted by the concerned stakeholders; thereby, resulting in fruitless endeavour,” said the KE.

Moreover, it was also apprised to the Committee that KE has requested Jamshoro Coal Power Company (“JPCL”), the details of the input data, needed for the execution of study. Although, some data has been provided by the JPCL; however, there has been significant shortcomings found within the data that has been provided. The same reservation has been communicated by KE to JPCL over March 18, 2025.

KE has requested Power Division to direct JPCL to make necessary its efforts for providing all the files of the outlined data, as any delay or shortcomings within the inputs design data will have a direct implication on the quality and timelines of the BFS.

After explaining the entire background, KE has requested Power to ensure that its point of views of various aspects of the Committee workings should be incorporated by the issuance of the revised Committee meeting minutes. Moreover, we would also like to request that draft of the minutes should be circulated with all the committee members, for their feedback and consent, prior to the final issuance.

KE has mentioned that the same practice has been followed during the issuance of the minutes of the four earlier held meetings of the committee, which resulted in true reflection of the point of view of all the committee members.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025