The government has decided to induct private sector operation and maintenance contractors to make the public sector power Generation Companies (Gencos ) run more efficiently. This was decided at a meeting of PPIB Board on Wednesday. It was presided over by the Minister for Water and Power, Syed Naveed Qamar.
With passage of time, electricity generating capacity of the Gencos has de-rated from the originally installed capacity and out of that capacity, availability remains dismally low. According to an official statement, issued after the meeting, the Board was apprised that after enhancement of Gencos , additional about 2000MW will be made available to the national grid.
The decision of induction of private sector O&M contractors is one of the steps of the present government to improve the current power deficit situation in the country through efficiently managing system, besides adding more megawatts through new projects.
The other major initiative being taken by the GoP in this context is the conversion of existing thermal power stations to cheaper fuels like coal, LNG etc. The minister said that while construction of thermal power projects was a short term solution and government is prioritising its local resources like coal and hydropower. In this regard, the government is providing its full support to the investors.
Naveed Qamar said that in order to make electricity affordable, a good energy mix is necessary, and, therefore, the use of indigenous resource like hydropower and our local coal at Thar, as well as imported coal is being stressed. Managing Director PPIB informed the board in this context that under Policy for Power Generation 2002, standardised security agreements for coal based power generation IPPs have been prepared by PPIB in consultation with relevant stakeholders; the Board on Wednesday approved the same for submission to the ECC for approval.
The meeting was informed that so far 12 private power projects of more than 2,400MW have been commissioned since March 2009 out of which 209MW Bhikki (Halmore) Power Project has been recently commissioned on 16 June, 2011. PPIB is doing all efforts to take such steps which are investors friendly and in order to minimise the procedures, save time of tariff approval/reviews and facilitate investors in carrying out their own due diligence regarding financial viability/acceptability of the tariff, PPIB has worked out upfront tariffs which are being further processed.-PR