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| June 22, 2006 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1427 |
‘Power system overstretched’
ISLAMABAD, June 21: Pakistan’s entire power system is “stretched beyond capacity”, forcing the authorities to look for financial and technical assistance from international donor agencies to improve the overall power transmission system.
Sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the tariff structure would have to be reviewed to meet the cost and capital outlays for improving the performance of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC).
The power system has started encountering serious problems, especially that of overloading, stress and congestion at various strategic locations which was resulting in outages.
A decision has been taken to construct new 500- and 220-kV transmission lines, sub-stations and extension of existing sub-stations across the country to ensure adequate and stable power supply for sustained economic development in Pakistan.
“The existing power system is fast aging and vulnerable, too, and needs to be restored to avoid frequent power breakdowns, especially in major cities like Karachi and Lahore”, an official said.
A detailed plan has been submitted by the ministry of water and power to strengthen the transmission system to have safe, secure and reliable power supply and meet not only the existing requirements but also the future demand.
The ministry assessed that the electricity demand was expected to grow by 8.3 per cent annually during the period 2005-2015. To cope with the growing demand, it was estimated that Pakistan would require about an additional annual capacity of 2,000 megawatts, which would need to be evacuated through the transmission system. “As a result of this, enhancement in capacity of NTDC transmission system is urgently required,” the ministry wrote to the Planning Division.
The ministry also said that future power generation expansion plans would be studied along with the transmission expansion programme. Any delay in the construction of the generation project, or a change in the location of the plan, would make the proposed investments in the transmission line and sub-station unjustifiable, posing a potential risk for the project’s economic viability, it said.
Initially, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had agreed to fund a feasibility study to review and analysis of the historical technical data to determine transmission constraints, develop technical solutions to address system constraints, review future transmission expansion plans and assess requirements of individual projects, assessment of the financial management system and assessment of the financial parameters of the power sector.
The ADB’s $500,000 financing for feasibility study would also ensure compliance with the national and Bank’s safeguard policies and links among economic growth, poverty, protection to environment and the power sector.
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