September 17, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 16, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 16: The Karachi Electric Supply Company faced yet another day of shortfall of around 500 megawatts as supply from the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (Kanupp) and the DHA’s Cogen plant was not available and the Bin Qasim plant was also operating much below its optimum capacity.

This situation obtained on Tuesday as the board of the power utility appointed Naveed Ismail chief executive officer of the KESC and backed him by a new team of more than 40 senior managers.

Despite the fact that the utility increased its supplies from the two independent power producers – Gul Ahmed and Tapal – and received a backup support from the Water and Power Development Authority, the gap between the demand of over 2,400 megawatts and the overall supply remained significant, resulting in several rounds of prolonged outages across the city.

A spokesman for Abraaj Capital, which formally took over the KESC on Tuesday, told Dawn that the new management was holding talks with the government and Al Jomaih for a major investment for structural support. “When the discussions have been finalized, their details will be announced”, he said in response to a question on the quantum of expected or required investment.

The spokesman said Mr Ismail possessed experience of almost 20 years of operational leadership in utilities power generation, distribution and transmission and managing people-related issues in large companies.