The government is hopeful that the 425 MW Nandipur Power Plant will be made fully operational by October this year, as the main irritant in the full operation, the low capacity furnace oil treatment plant (FOTP), will be enhanced by end-September end, an official source said.
Two more skids of the FOTP have been loaded on the ship, after having been manufactured in Germany. These will reach the Karachi port by early September and will be installed during the same month, the source added.
The source said the outsourcing of the operation and maintenance (O&M) contract of Nandipur Power Plant is also on the cards. A Chinese company has been shortlisted after an international competitive bidding in which four companies participated. The final decision in this regard will be made by the Ministry of Water and Power.
At present, the plant’s average output is 250 MW. Installation of two more skids will help increase production to full 425 MW.
The opposition had put a lot of pressure on the government for the under-capacity production of the newly installed plant.
The full operation of the plant will also help address the regulator, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA)’s concerns. For the last one year since the commercial operation’s date, the Authority has repeatedly demanded an update from the government about the operation of the plant. The government has so far withheld a review petition which seek revision in the tariff price of the plant.
The state owned Pakistan Electric Power Company granted the contract for the construction of Rs 23 billion NPP to the Chinese Dong Fang Electric Corporation in 2008. But the work on the project was stopped midway in 2010 due to financial issues. The scheduled completion date of the plant was April 2011. The project was revived in 2013, and its cost escalated to Rs 57 billion.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the first turbine of the project in May 2014 but the plant shut down after five days. It achieved commercial operation date in August last year but the plant once again went dysfunctional in September 2015 due to low capacity FOTPs.
The poor performance of state-owned power sector entity, PEPCO, in installing the NPP forced the government to drop the Chichoon Ki Malliyan power plant. Instead of a furnace oil power plant, the government focused on installing three RLNG based power plants of cumulative capacity of 3,600 MW in load centers of Punjab.
