PM exhorts Dar to seek WB finances for 6,600 MW project

Ordering fast track basis completion of Gadani Power Park project, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Saturday asked Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to request the World Bank for financing the mega project that will add 6,600 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.
The generated power will cater the energy-scarce country’s growing industrial and domestic requirements, an official statement quoted the prime minister as telling a meeting of Gadani Power Park Steering Committee that he (PM) chaired at Gadani in Hub, Balochistan.
Sharif said the future hinged on this project and he directed that all measures be taken to fast track it. The prime minister also evinced keen interest in the power project that would house 10 power plants of 660MW each and was estimated to cost around $ 14 billion.
He was informed that work on the project would start next year in March and Pakistan would install the first power plant, while the rest would be installed by foreign investors on built-own-operate and transfer basis. The IPPs will be selected through international bidding by Pakistan Power and Infrastructure Board.
The prime minister said China had also shown interest in installing four power plants. He directed to simplify the procedures in award of projects to private companies in a transparent manner. He said the process must be designed so that projects were awarded on fast track basis.
In this regard, he mentioned the way his previous government worked on the M-2 Motorway projects and said if he had not initiated the work through private sector, there would have been no progress.
The prime minister also informed the meeting that he would be visiting Turkey on the invitation of its prime minister from September 16 to 18. He said the Turkish prime minister had also invited the Pakistani businessmen to Turkey, so that they could interact with their counterparts and enter into joint ventures.
He asked local private sector to hold a road show in Istanbul to seek Turkish investment in the power projects. The prime minister was informed that the Balochistan government would provide 5,000 acres of land for the Power Park that would be connected with a 7 km long jetty to bring in 20 million tonnes of coal. Sharif also appreciated Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for ensuring the payment of the circular debt.
The prime minister was told that Pakistan Power Park Management Company had been incorporated to carry out the infrastructural work of the project and seed money of Rs 1 billion had been allocated for the company. The prime minister lauded efforts of the water and power minister and secretary concerned for carrying forward the power projects.
He said various parties were interested to take part in the Gadani Power project so the government should accomplish its own task at earliest to win confidence of the other parties. Prime Minister Sharif directed the finance minister to approach the World Bank to arrange funding for the project. The finance minister opined that the private companies could also manage the same at their own from their respective financial institutions and hoped that there would be no funding issue in this regard.
The prime minister said the project should be duly publicised to aware the private investors and also directed the finance minister to arrange a briefing for the local bankers on the project as they too were interested to be part of it.
The secretary water and power assured the primer that the project would be completed on fast track basis. He said the NTDC had been launched to work out a plan regarding transmission lines of the project that would benefit the whole country. The briefing was attended among others by Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Energy Mussadiq Malik, Shaukat Fayaz A Tareen