Water and Power Secretary Younus Dagha said that the LNG-powered Balloki Power Plant is currently under construction near Kasur and will be operational from September 2017.
Equipped with the latest technology and infrastructure, the 1223 MW Balloki plant will be the most efficient to date in Pakistan – it will produce electricity at an efficiency rate of 62 per cent, which is unmatched by any other power plant in the country.
Dagha, on a visit to the plant, said, “the cheaper electricity produced will save consumers around 18 billion rupees.”
“Electricity generated by the plant will be available at 6.30 rupees per unit,” he added.
The project will cost 86 billion rupees and meet electricity needs of 6 million houses across the country. The power plant will provide at least 1,299 MW of electricity to the national grid.
The secretary further said, “The government is working on nine massive power projects to eliminate load shedding from the country by 2018.”
“These projects will provide 11,000 MW of power in total.”
By 2018 Pakistan would not only be able to meet the electricity needs of its population but also have excess power.
Half a Million Jobs Lost as Textile Crisis Hits Pakistan's Economy
More than 500,000 jobs lost in two years as factories close
Improving power, gas supply may halt export drop: central bank
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A neglected waiting area, empty reception and dim lights greet visitors at what used to be the biggest textile factory in the northern industrial area of Pakistan’s economic hub.
At its peak Al-Abid Silk Mills Ltd. employed 7,600 employees in Karachi, now only a handful can be seen in the near-abandoned garment workshop. It’s one of hundreds that have shut down over the past few years, contributing to Pakistan’s exports falling to their lowest in six years.
Exporters from South Asia’s second-largest economy, including textile manufacturers who account for more than half of all overseas shipments, say buyers have shifted to countries including Bangladesh and Vietnam as continual power outages impede their ability to meet order deadlines, while complaining that the government has provided scant support.
“The government has never planned how we need to go forward with the textile industry,” Naseem Sattar, the 80-year-old chief executive officer of Al-Abid, said as he smoked in his office in the derelict plant. “Such a factory is considered a national asset and we got no help.”
About 100 member factories have shut down and at least 500,000 people have lost jobs in the past two years, according to Saleem Saleh, acting secretary general of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, the biggest contributor to the nation’s textile exports. About two-thirds of the members of the Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association have stopped working in the past five years, according to its head Shabir Ahmed.
Most factories shutting down are small or mid-sized plants unable to bear the extra cost of prolonged power outages. Meanwhile, larger factories have invested in their own power, including diesel generators, to cope with the nation’s electricity deficit of about 3,000 megawatts.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-20…
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