The Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power was informed on Friday that the feasibility study for the import of 1000MW of electricity from Iran was ready and the working group of both countries would be deciding the matter next month in Tehran. The meeting of the committee was held under the chairmanship of Senator Lashkar Raisani.
The managing director of Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), Rasul Khan Masud, briefed the committee on the power import projects from Iran. He said efforts were underway to expedite power import from Iran and the import of 1000MW would be finalised in the upcoming meeting in Tehran next month. He said NESPAK and Iranian company Moshanir were working jointly on the project and its feasibility report was complete.
The meeting was told that the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) and Transmission and Distribution Management Company (TDMC) of Iran had signed an agreement for the import of 39MWs. The power trade between the two countries is expected to commence next month. A delegation of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) had recently finalised the deal with Iran. Both countries signed the deal after three years of negotiations and the talks lingered on over power tariff issues, as Iran demanded Rs 13 per unit while Pakistan offered Rs 7 per unit.
Under the deal a power tariff ranging between Rs 6 to Rs 8.5 per unit was finalised that would be applicable for three years from January 2011 to December 2014. Since the power import from Iran is quite cheap than the thermal electricity in Pakistan the project would result in a saving of $22 million. The imported electricity would be supplied mainly to Makran division of Balochistan.
The meeting was also informed that work on a 230KW transmission line was under process that would allow the import of 1000MW of electricity from Iran to Gwadar.
