January 05, 2008	Saturday	Zilhaj 25, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Financial closure has been achieved by the two power projects by Mansha Group, namely Nishat Power Project and Nishat Chunian Power Project, of 200 MW capacity each.

Earlier, the company signed Implementation Agreements (IA) and Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) of both these projects in last quarter of 2007. The projects are being set up at District Kasur near Lahore.

The signing ceremony was held at Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) office, and was attended by Mohammad Yousuf Memon and other senior officials from PPIB and the Project Companies.

The sponsors of Nishat Power Project are Nishat Mills Limited, and those of Nishat Chunian Power Project are Nishat Chunian Limited, both owned by Mian Mohammad Mansha, while lenders of both projects are the consortium of commercial banks including Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Allied Bank Limited (ABL), United Bank Limited (UBL), Standard Charted Bank (Pakistan) Limited (SCB) and Faysal Bank Limited (FBL) being financial advisors and lead arrangers.

The estimated cost of both the projects is $204 million each and they are targeted to be commissioned by June 2009 and December 2010, respectively.

With these new financial closures, a total of eight projects with a cumulative capacity of 1,667 MW have achieved financial close under the 2002 power policy expected to be commissioned by the year 2010, which is a very positive sign showing increase of interest of the investors’ community in the power sector of Pakistan.