ISLAMABAD, June 26: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a technical assistance grant amounting to $600,000 for institutional capacity building of the National Transmission and Despatch Company.

The Japan Special Fund-financed assistance for the NTDC is aimed at preparing it to professionally manage the power transmission, despatch, and trading activities, a statement issued by Marshuk Ali Shah, ADB’s country director in Pakistan, said on Thursday.

The technical assistance grant would be used to identify barriers to both the single-buyer power sector trading system and the competitive power market model, making the country’s power sector more efficient over the next seven years.

The ministry of water and power will be the executing agency for the technical assistance. The NTDC will be the implementing agency in cooperation with the Pakistan Electric Power Company Ltd.

The technical assistance is expected to commence in Sept 2003, and would be spread over a 15-month period, with completion expected by Dec 2004.

The ADB supported the government’s power sector reform plan and provided assistance through an energy sector restructuring programme approved in 2000 for $355 million.