KARACHI, Feb 11: The reason why the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation is unable to meet the demand for electricity even in winter is that its engineers have failed to repair the unit number three at the Bin Qasim power plant for the past 11 months.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Monday that the repair work on the unit number three at the Bin Qasim power plant had been delayed when the two Italian engineers working on the project had left following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

They added that the unit number three at the KESC’s Bin Qasim power plant had been switched off for an overhaul in March 2001.

“It was supposed to have become operational in October 2001.”

The Bin Qasim power plant, manned by 550 staff and 100 engineers, produces 70 per cent of the total electricity generated by the KESC.

They said the KESC had written to the federal government, which had, in turn, approached the Italian embassy about the early return of the engineers.

Insiders said the Italian engineers had turned up in December when they had been assured that there would be no security risk for them. “But then they left the Bin Qasim power plant shortly for Christmas holidays. They had instructed KESC engineers what to do in their absence, so the work continued.”

They added that turbine overhauling was a job that KESC engineers could not do on their own. “Overhauling is different from maintenance. It is like assembling a new unit from scratch. Blade adjustments become extremely difficult because their alignment varies in hot conditions and in cold conditions. It can only be done by the firm that had manufactured the power unit.”

They said the boiler of the unit number three, which had been commissioned in 1989, had been manufactured by DBW, turbine by Ansaldo and generator by Marelli. The installed capacity of the unit number three was 210 megawatts but its present capacity was 120 megawatts.

An electrical engineer said the overhaul of a power unit should take no more than 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.”

They said the KESC had overhauled other power units by turns taking advantage of the low demand for electricity in winter. ”The KESC has carried out overhaul of units four, one and two. The unit number five will be switched off one of these days.”

The insiders said that the KESC would be obliged to carry out more loadshedding in winter when the unit number five was switched off for overhaul.

They said the situation had worsened when the Water and Power Development Authority had refused to take care of the power shortage. “In the past, Wapda used to meet the power shortage of the KESC. But they are having some problems. So they limited the supply to 200 megawatts in peak hours. On Sunday, the Bin Qasim power plant generated 920 megawatts which is not enough to meet the power requirement of the city.”