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KARACHI, Aug 22: With the inauguration of a $100 million cogeneration plant designed to generate 94 megawatts of electricity and three million gallons of desalinated water a day by the Defence Housing Authority , work on a long-awaited project has finally got under way.
According to a document issued by the DHA detailing the salient features of the plant, the electricity produced by the plant would be sold to the power utility and desalinated water would be provided to the residents of DHA at affordable rates. The project will be completed within 22 months.
The DHA project was opened by President Musharraf on Friday, who was also briefed about the projects of similar nature being undertaken by the Karachi Port Trust, sources said.
They said that the KPT would set up a small desalination plant (100,000 gallons per day to 500,000 gallons per day) at Manora within the next six months. The project would cost Rs30 million.
They added that the KPT would also establish a desalination plant (four million gallons per day) at Keamari at an estimated cost of 20 million Euros. The project would be completed within a year.
The DHA document states: "The development of 20,000 houses in Phase VIII of DHA has been stalled because of a lack of utility services, particularly potable water. Even the already built Phases I to IV are chronically short of potable water, receiving an average of 4.5 million gallons per day to meet the demand of eight million gallons per day," it adds.
It further states: "With the ground breaking of the state-of- the-art DHA Power and Desalination Plant, brought to Pakistan exclusively by DHA, Karachi with full technological back-up and assistance from DHA Cogen Ltd (DCL), in collaboration with Siemens Pakistan/ Siemens AG Germany and Alpha Laval of Sweden, the DHA has taken the first step to achieve the monumental task of providing quality water at affordable price to its residents.
The installation and erection of the entire power and desalination plant will be done by Siemens Pakistan," it mentions. The DHA is one of the country's largest housing projects spread over a total area of 8,797 acres, with 80,000 members.
The document says: "The existing water supply to the DHA is being made by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board from the Indus source. The water is provided in bulk at a distance of about five kilometres from the DHA boundary. From this point onwards, DHA/Cantonment Board is responsible for distribution to residents. The distribution network comprises approximately 600 kilometres of pipeline.
It states: "The project being set up by the DCL is first of its kind in Pakistan. The technology being used by them is based on the best available resources determined through an extensive evaluation and comparison of available technologies and brands.
The introduction of plate technology has made this process more efficient in terms of heat transfer, and operating life has increased substantially with the use of Titanium, as it is highly corrosion-resistant to seawater."
The document says that DCL chose Alpha Laval technology because its capital cost is less, it is more efficient, uses less electrical energy, requires less maintenance cost and less space, and the materials used are shell of high grade stainless steel and inside plates of Titanium.
"Natural gas will be used as fuel. The combination ensures thermal efficiencies, thus making the project technically and commercially viable. The arrangements for distribution of electricity and uninterrupted provision of fuel gas with the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and the Sui Southern Gas Company have been finalized.
The desalinated water will be made available to the residents at a cost of Rs100 per 1,000 gallons, a price much less than currently charged by tankers," it says.
