KARACHI, May 28: A major portion of the city went without electricity after midnight as Unit-3 of the Bin Qasim Power Plant went out of order. The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation resorted to carrying out 50MW load-shedding.
Coupled with the load-shedding, tripping of feeders resulted in prolonged suspension of power supply to many areas, adding to the miseries of citizens already inconvenienced by the persisting heat wave and shortage of water supply, mainly due to disruption in power supply to pumping stations. The power utility failed to repair the feeders for several hours after they tripped due to the strong jerk caused by the sudden power outage.
FIRE: A fire broke out at the KESC’s Valika Grid Station on Monday evening, affecting operation of the KWSB’s Hub Pumping Station that provides 100MGD water to the city.
Cables at the grid station were gutted, causing suspension of power supply to a vast area, sources said.
Owing to the incident, there would be no water supply to Baldia, Site, Orangi and adjoining areas on Tuesday.
Although the KESC claimed that the situation had normalized early in the morning, residents of many areas of the city complained that they had been without electricity from 9am to 6pm on Monday.
They also stated that the KESC complaint centres were not responding to their requests for the restoration of power supply.
Meanwhile, the KESC’s expectations of an early addition of 80MW power supply have met with frustration apparently due to the mishandling by representative of the Siemens.
The utility was to get 80MW from the DHA Cogeneration Company Limited (DCL) on June 30 but the supply has hit delays and the date has to be extended once again, at least by another three months. The problem has been caused by the failure to complete the water intake system of the DHA’s desalination plant. After failing to meet the deadline, the Siemens representative Rolf Beirgmere, in-charge of the DCL, has set October 2007 as the new deadline.
Chaudhry Mazhar, General Secretary of the KESC Shareholders Association, claimed that on its part, the KESC had laid the interconnecting cable before May 2 and had also kept the required commercial operation ready for this badly needed power supply.
“According to penalty clause of the agreement dated January 29, 2005 between the KESC and the DCL, the latter is liable to pay Rs116.95 per kilowatt to the KESC in case the commercial operation is not started by June 30, 2007,” he said. But for some unknown reasons, the KESC, whose operational management is also with the Siemens representative, has waived this penalty. Siemens is also a partner in the DCL.
KARACHI, May 28: A major portion of the city went without electricity after midnight as Unit-3 of the Bin Qasim Power Plant went out of order. The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation resorted to carrying out 50MW load-shedding.
