KARACHI: K-Electric on Wednesday awarded $650 million contract to German firm Siemens AG and Chinese construction giant Harbin Electric for building a 900MW combined-cycle power plant and associated grids at Bin Qasim.

The contract was signed in Chinese city Harbin by KE CEO Moonis Alvi, Siemens Executive Vice Pres­i­dent Dr Keramat Fak­hari and Har­bin Electric Chairman Guo Yu.

Although the project timeline has been affected due to delay in finalisation of KE’s Multi-Year Tariff, the power utility is determined to execute it on a fast-track and additional power to be made available by summer 2021, said a KE press release.

With a $650m investment, the project will be built at KE’s Bin Qasim Power Com­plex and includes upgrades to associated transmission infr­astructure. It will be dual fired with RLNG (re-gasified liquid natural gas) as the primary fuel.

The 900MW BQPS-III is one of several planned projects to replace older plants with newer and more efficient units.

In addition to this, KE is also in talks with the government to increase the supply from national grid and in this regard discussions for supply of 500MW from KANUPP-2 and KANUPP-3 are in advanced stage.

The company clarified that the construction of interconnection facilities will take at least two years once the proposal is approved by the government, which is still pending. Further a key coal-fired 700MW project awaits notification as well.

Alvi said the project is essential in meeting Karachi’s future energy demands.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2019