ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: A US-based company has offered to set up a 500 megawatt power project with an investment of $500 million to generate electricity through municipal solid waste processing.

A delegation of the GSB technologies, led by its president Gerald Bell, on Tuesday gave separate presentations to Water and Power Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and Industries and Production Minister Liaqat Ali Jatoi about the technology.

The proposal envisages manufacturing of enhanced coal gasification for electricity production through scientific utilization and conversion of municipal solid waste.

The sponsors have estimated $500 million as cost of the project based on Pyro-Electric Thermal Conversion System (PETC). It has a simple design, lower cost and far superior in electro- thermal conversion efficiency than standard coal or oil-based thermal plants. It is an industrially viable source of ionizing heat and is viable with a unique thermal conversion process for cost effective commercial applications, officials said.

The cost of electricity has been estimated in the range of 3.5 cents per unit (Kwh) as compared to 6.5 cents per unit currently being paid to the independent power producers (IPPs), an official of the ministry of industries said.

The US-based company, GSB technologies, has developed plasma technology power plants that run on coal or ordinary trash or a combination of both. The technology has been developed by the space scientists and the power plants based on the technique generates clean drinking water in considerable quantities during the process of generation of electricity and can help reduce pollution, an official of the power ministry said.

He said the company had established 14 such projects throughout the world. Liaqat Ali Jatoi, the industries minister said that Pakistan offered a secure and favourable investment environment in all sectors of the economy.

The water and power minister said the government would encourage projects that involve local raw material and transfer of technology. The minister told the US delegation to submit a detailed investment proposal to the government.

He also asked the company to focus on using local coal for power generation because large reserves of coal were available in the country. The minister showed keen interest in the utilization of trash material for power generation and said it could help reduce pollution and produce clear water as a by-product while generating clean and low price electricity.