ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar witnessed as chief guest the agreement signing ceremony of an agreement for ±660 KV HVDC Matiari–Lahore Transmission Line Project between National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) and Pak Matiari-Lahore Transmission Company (PMLTC) and an amendment document to the implementation agreement between Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and PMLTC, held at conference room of the Power Division on Wednesday.
The documents were signed by PPIB Managing Director Shah Jahan Mirza, NTDC Managing Director Dr Khawaja Riffat Hassan and PMLTC President & CEO Zhang Lei.
SAPM on Power and Petroleum Tabish Gauhar and Power Division Secretary Ali Raza Bhutta were also present on the occasion.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has granted approval and under the new transmission services agreement (TSA), the required commercial operation date (RCOD) of transmission line has been extended from March 1 to September 1. Whereas, another addendum has also been made in operations and maintenance service agreement.
The ±660 kV Matiari–Lahore Transmission Line Project is the first ever HVDC transmission line project in Pakistan, which is being executed under the framework of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement. It is also the first project being developed pursuant to the provisions of Private Sector Transmission Line Policy Framework, approved and announced by the government of Pakistan back in 2015. This transmission line is spread over a span of 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 it will be transferred to NTDC after a term of 25 years. The project entails foreign investment to the tune of $1,658.34 million.
In the light of the aforesaid MoU, addendum agreements to the TSA and O&M agreement were agreed between PMLTC and NTDC, which were later approved by their respective BoDs. Moreover, an amendment to the implementation agreement (IA) was also finalised and approved to harmonise these changes in the TSA and IA. These amendments were signed between the respective parties.
Speaking on the occasion, Azhar said that the present government is actively pursuing the completion of energy projects, including the CPEC projects. He further said it is one of the mega projects that will eventually evacuate electricity from south of the country to the north, improving the economic merit dispatch order of the electricity. It will not only will benefit the electricity consumers but will also bring stability in the system, he added
It is pertinent to mention that during the testing of the said project in December last year, frequency oscillations in the NTDC system had led to differences between the NTDC and Pak MLTC. However, the concentration of the ministry, PPIB, NTDC, Foreign Office, China CET chairman, and CPEC Authority had played vital role during the proceedings of negotiations. Resultantly, all technical and contractual issues were resolved amicably under the dispute resolution mechanism. Later, the MoU signed by the NTDC and Pak MLTC were approved by the board of directors of both the companies. The addendum was also approved by the ECC in March.
Presently, the project is energised at low power and 800 MW electricity is being transferred through the transmission line as test energy and as per agreed points in the MoU, the project will continue to operate on trial run basis on low power till May 1. Thereafter, the high-power test of 2200 MW will be started and after its successful completion, the HVDC transmission line will be tested for trial run of 7 days to confirm the capability of the line at 4000 MW designed capacity.
