LAHORE: Managing Director (MD) National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) Azaz Ahmad has vowed to remove system constraints of transmission lines for a permanent solution of load shedding on the networks of four major Distribution Companies (DISCOs) in Punjab.

Talking exclusively to Business Recorder on Wednesday, he said, the NTDC has set a target of eliminating load shedding on the transmission networks of Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO) and Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO). The distribution networks of these four major DISCOs, besides others, had recorded a shortfall of 1300 megawatt per day during the immediate past summer, he added.

“The NTDC will either eliminate this shortfall of 1300 megawatt or mitigate it to the maximum by removing system constraints by the next summer,” he stressed.

When asked about the major system constraints causing such a huge shortfall, which is actually equal to the generation of a new power plant, Ahmad said transformer overloading has become a major irritant in the transmission system. The NTDC has planned to add new grid stations of 220KV, 500KV and 765KV to take the number to 93 from the existing 61 by 2025-26, he said, adding that Rs13 billion development work has already been rolled out, which is a combination of the Company’s own resources as well as bank loans.

Tenders have already been floated for the civil works as well as procurement of the required material, he said. According to him, capacity building of the concerned staff is one of the prime requirements for the completion of these projects. Therefore, he said, the management under his watch has decided to start training programmes for the staff. Ahmad pointed out that the management has decided to take assistance from the Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) Modernization & Enterprise Resource Programme (ERP) to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and control of NTDC business operations and staff productivity in all current and future NTDC sites throughout Pakistan. “The NTDC has a plan to deploy ERP modules of financial management, human resource management, procurement and inventory management, billings and receivables, project management and dashboard, and asset management,” he added.

Also, he said, the recruitment of over 2000 engineers would be completed in next few months to overcome staff constraints as the NTDC network is expected to be expanded in an unprecedented way by 2025 when addition of another 2000 engineers would be the need of the hour to meet requirements of Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2021-30.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021