German Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Silberhorn, Ambassador to Pakistan Ina Lepel and Acting Managing Director NTDCL Wajahat Saeed Rana laid down the foundation stone of 220kv Ghazi grid station, here on Friday. German diplomat on the occasion said that bilateral development co-operation between Pakistan and Germany commenced as early as 1961. Pakistan was the first country to avail economic assistance for energy sector from Germany. The two sides celebrated the 50th anniversary of development co-operation in 2011.
Germany is providing financial assistance in power sector through KFW Development Bank along with technical knowledge, assistance to Pakistan, he said. He said the KFW Development Bank had a long-term relationship with NTDCL and the 220kv Ghazi grid station was another milestone and a good example of mutual co-operation between the two countries, which is the result of trust among each other.
He said the German-Pak Renewable Energy Forum would be established and Pakistan would host it in December this year. He said Pakistan is a key partner and Germany would enhance its co-operation investment in energy sector to help Pakistan in mitigating power outages. Acting NTDCL Managing Director Wajahat Saeed Rana also spoke. He said the construction of the grid station was needed to meet the increasing demand of electricity of the areas especially southern Lahore.
He said, "This project will be completed in October 2016 with the cost of over two billion rupees. The overloaded system will be eased especially of the Kotlakhpat, Ravi and Bund Road grid stations. Voltage profile will be improved along with reduction in transmission losses and forced loadshedding. The domestic, commercial and industrial consumers of LESCO will be the main beneficiaries, which will result in opening up more employment opportunities and socio-economic growth." He also thanked the German delegation and sought more co-operation and investment in power sector for elimination of acute energy crisis being faced by Pakistan.