November 24, 2001	Saturday	Ramazan 8, 1422

KARACHI, Nov 23: A power production unit at the Bin Qasim plant of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation has been out of order for the past eight months, Dawn learnt here on Friday.

Well-placed sources said the repair work on the unit number three at the Bin Qasim power plant, which produced 70 per cent of the electricity generated by the power utility, had been further delayed when the two Italian engineers working on the project had left following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

They added that the unit number three at the KESC’s Bin Qasim power plant, manned by 550 staff and 100 engineers, had been switched off for a thorough overhaul in March.

When contacted, the press attache at the Italian consulate, Ugo Falciola, confirmed that the two Italian engineers had left the Bin Qasim power plant after Sept 11 for security reasons. He said the generator engineer was back and the other would return soon.

The Italian consulate official said the KESC had written to the federal government, which had approached the Italian embassy and which, in turn, had contacted him about the early return of the engineers.

Insiders said the unit number three was to have been operational in October, but the overhaul had been delayed by at least two months due to the unexpected departure of the Italian engineers.

They the KESC also planned to do minor overhaul work on the rest of the five power units. “At present, the overhaul work is being done on the unit number four. Other units will also be repaired by turns in two to three months,” they said.

They explained that the KESC was undertaking minor overhaul work on the functional power plants because the demand was low due to winter. “The maximum generation of electricity is 720 megawatts these days. While units three and four are off, unit number one produces 185 megawatts; unit number two, 200 megawatts; unit number five, 150 megawatts; and unit number six, 180 megawatts,” they said.

An electrical engineer told Dawn that the overhaul of a power unit took at least four months.

HE SAID: “First, the blades and diaphragm of the generator are taken out. Then they are subjected to sand-blasting after which they are assembled. The entire process requires at least four months.”

According to documents obtained by Dawn, the unit number three had been commissioned in 1989. Its boiler was made by a German firm and its generator and turbine were manufactured by Italian firms.

ANTI-theft DRIVE: Army monitoring teams of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation will launch a campaign from Friday night to arrest those who are using illegal connections for illuminating streets and playgrounds for playing cricket, etc at night, adds APP.

According to a spokesman of the KESC, the power utility has been making efforts to ensure smooth supply of electricity in Ramazan, but the additional load due to such illegal connections and pi