LAHORE: The National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) has inked a 43.76 million Euro loan agreement with KfW Bank on Friday for financing the construction of 500 kV Chakwal Grid Station.

Apart from this, another grant agreement amounting to 2.4 million Euro was also signed which was provided by the German government for capacity building in NTDC. The loan signing ceremony was held at the Economic Affairs Division, Islamabad, where Sebastian Jacobi, Director KfW, Islamabad, Dr Kazim Niaz, Secretary (Economic Affairs Division) and MD NTDC, Engr Dr Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan signed the agreements.

MD NTDC Engr Dr Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan thanked the KfW team for extending consistent financial support to NTDC as well as in other sectors of Pakistan. It is worth mentioning that on 15 Dec 2022, a US$189 million loan under Second Power Transmission Enhancement Investment Programme (Tranche-4) was also inked by Secretary (Economic Affairs Division) and Dy Country Director, Pakistan Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank, Islamabad, for power infrastructure enhancement, including transmission lines and grid stations.

The said loan will be utilized for the procurement of transformers, circuit breakers and other allied equipment for expansion of four 500kV grid stations and four 220kV grid stations to remove the system constraints in the transmission network for Summer-2023, thereby providing relief to the associated DISCOs and the end consumer.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022