by Shafqat Ali

 

MIRPUR, Apr. 29 (Gwadar Pro)- Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar on Wednesday witnessed as chief guest the signing ceremony of Amendment in agreement for ±660 kV HVDC Matiari – Lahore Transmission Line Project between National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) and Pak MLTC and Amendment No.1 under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with foreign investment to the tune of US$ 1,658.34 million.

 

The signing was following the Implementation Agreement (IA) between Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and the Project Company - Pak Matiari-Lahore Transmission Company (Pvt.) Ltd. (PMLTC) at the conference room of Power Division on Wednesday afternoon, said an official statement.

 

The ±660 kV Matiari – Lahore Transmission Line Project (the Project) is the first-ever High voltage direct current (HVDC) Transmission Line Project in Pakistan which is being executed under the framework of the CPEC Agreement, said the statement.

 

It is also the first project being developed under the provisions of the Private Sector Transmission Line Policy Framework approved and announced by the Government of Pakistan back in 2015.

 

The documents were signed by Shah Jahan Mirza, Managing Director, PPIB for Amendment to the IA, Managing Director NTDC Engineer Dr. Khawaja Riffat Hassan for Addendum and Zhang Lei, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PMLTC for both the agreements.

 

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Power and Petroleum Tabish Gauhar and Secretary Power Division Ali Raza Bhutta was also present on the occasion, the media wing of NTDC said in an official statement.

 

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has also approved and under the new Transmission Services Agreement (TSA), the Required Commercial Operation Date (RCOD) of the transmission line has been extended from 1st March 2021 to 1st September 2021. Whereas, Another Addendum has also been made in the Operations and Maintenance Service Agreement (O&M).

 

This Transmission Line is spread for 886 km and capable of transmitting 4000 MW power at ±660 kV. The Project is being executed on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis and will be transferred to NTDC after a term of 25 Years.

 

In the light of aforesaid MoU, Addendum Agreements to the Transition Services Agreement (TSA) and Operation & Maintenance Agreements (O&M) Agreement were agreed between PMLTC and NTDC which were later approved by their respective Board of Directors (BoDs).

 

Moreover, an Amendment to IA was also finalized and approved to harmonize these changes in TSA and IA.

 

These amendments are being signed today between the respective parties. As per mutually agreed terms of the agreement, the Commercial Operations Date (COD) of the Project has been extended from 1st March to 1st September 2021. Nevertheless, during this period, NTDC would be allowed to transmit available power, for which the Project Company would be paid as per tariff to be approved by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).

 

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) said that the government is actively pursuing the completion of energy projects including CPEC projects.

 

He further said it is one of the mega projects that will eventually evacuate electricity from the South of the Country to the North improving the economic merit dispatch order of the electricity. It will not only benefit the electricity consumers also bring stability to the system, he added

 

In December 2020, during the testing of said project, frequency oscillations in NTDC system led to differences between NTDC and Pak MLTC. However, the concentration of Ministry of Energy (Power Division), PPIB, Board of Directors NTDC, Foreign Office, Chairman CET China, and CPEC Authority played a vital role in the negotiations between NTDC and a Chinese company.

 

As a result, all Technical and Contractual issues were resolved amicably under the dispute resolution mechanism.

 

Afterward, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by NTDC and Pak MLTC was approved by the Board of Directors of both companies. Addendum /Amendment was also approved by Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) in the last week of March 2021.

 

Presently, the project is energized at low power and 800 MW electricity is being transferred through the transmission line as test energy, as per agreed points in the MoU, and the project will continue to operate on a trial run basis on low power till 1st May 2021.

 

Thereafter, the high-power test of 2200 MW will be started and after its successful completion, the HVDC Transmission Line will be tested for a trial run of 7 days to confirm the capability of the Transmission Line at 4000 MW designed capacity.