AHMAD AHMADANI
The power generation from much-touted 425 MW Nandipur Power Plant is stopped for the last six months and the power sector regulatory authority has taken notice of the closure and sought response from the Power Ministry in this regard.
The official sources revealed that closure of power production from Nandipur Plant has caused loss of billion of rupees to the national exchequer. They said the power plant stopped power production some six months ago. And, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has now sought reasons regarding closure of power generation.
“Despite the start of commercial operation, zero electricity production from the Nandipur power plant is violation of the agreement,” the officials said, adding that Northern Power Generation Company might face heavy penalty due to closure of the plant. According to the agreement, Chinese contractor was responsible to make the plant fully operational. However, the 425 MW Nandipur Plant could not be made fully functional, which was the violation of agreement. And, the NEPRA has taken serious notice of it. The sources informed this scribe that a Chinese firm has been installing the furnace oil treatment plant (FOTP) to make it functional for power production. They said the Nandipur Plant with Rs 58 billion cost could not be made fully functional as Chinese engineers so far remained unable to restore complete operation of the power plant.
“By December the plant will be able to start power production,” the sources said. Earlier, a fault was appeared during the annual inspection of the machinery of Nandipur plant. And, Chinese engineers were assigned the task of repairing and maintenance. But, all the efforts to run the power plant proved fruitless. This power plant has been termed as one of the most expensive plants constructed in the history of the country and became a major point of embarrassment for the ruling PML-N government,” the sources said. They added although the construction work of the Nandipur Plant was completed during July last year, but it could not generate electricity as per its full installed capacity. Interestingly, the Northern Power Generation Company Limited (NPGCL) in a review petition on the Nandipur Power Project has communicated to NEPRA that the project might cause loss of billions of rupees even if it was made operational at full capacity.
More, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had also been investigating sky-high increase in the cost of Nandipur Plant and sought documentary evidence regarding heavy payments to various contractors in the name of repairing of plant’s machinery without following necessary tendering process.
It is worth mentioning here that Musharraf government had awarded the project. The agreement for the Nandipur Plant between the Pakistan government and a Chinese company was signed on January 28, 2008, when the country was under a caretaker setup. The Ministry of Water and Power has already communicated three major technical problems with the project, including the import of a low capacity furnace oil treatment plant, flaws in the long-term outsourcing contract for operation and maintenance, and the short-term contract awarded to engineering, procurement and construction contractors.