LAHORE: Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood and National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) Managing Director Dr Khwaja Riffat Hassan inaugurated the 220-kilovolt gas insulated substation, Ghazi Grid, here on Monday.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Mr Mahmood congratulated the NTDC management over completion of the grid station and said that the incumbent government was committed to providing all basic necessities to the public.

“This grid station will bring relief to the consumers of Lahore with an improved voltage profile. The government is also making efforts to provide electricity at affordable prices,” he said.

He also said that since the independent power producers (IPPs) were set up during the power crisis in 1990, the current government had asked them to review their agreement to cut down electricity prices. Moreover, the government was already in negotiations with IPPs and hoped the meetings would be fruitful and help curtail the circular debt. He directed the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) chief to address consumer complaints with patience and courtesy.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Hassan said that the company had successfully commissioned and energised the 220kV GIS Ghazi Road grid station with over Rs5.6 billion.

“The major portion of the funds was provided by KfW Germany and the remaining arranged by NTDC on its own,” he explained.

He said the 220kV grid station had a total capacity of 750 megavolt amperes. It was also connected with the 500kV NTDC grid station in Lahore (south) for dispersal of power from Balloki re-gasified liquefied natural gas plant and coal-fired plant in Sahiwal to Lesco areas, mainly DHA, Askari X, Allama Iqbal Airport, Gulberg, Shalimar, Batapur, and Ghazi Road.

The NTDC head said: “The government of Germany, through KfW, provided financing of 11.29 million euros for this project. [This] will help in addressing the constraints in the transmission network of the power sector. This project has strengthened the NTDC transmission system along with reduction in load of 220/132kV transformers feeding Lesco load centres. This will also improve the voltage profile and system reliability of Lesco and NTDC grid systems.”

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2020