Gadani Power Park to be completed on war footing: Dar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar on Sunday directed Economic Affair Division Secretary Nargis Sethi to complete the Gadani Power Park on war footing.

This has been disclosed by Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Secretary Nargis Sethi who is also Chief Executive Officer of the project of paramount importance here in a meeting with Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar about issues pertaining to Gadani Power Park.

Nespak (National Engineering Services of Pakistan) is preparing PC-I for the whole project of 6,600MW Gadani Power Park in Balochistan that will also include construction of jetty and related infrastructure.

Nargis Sethi briefed the finance minister about the broad framework of the project. She informed that the site of the Park was ideal as it converged at the available industrial infrastructure at Hub and very close to Karachi.

She said that the Park would include ten coal-based power projects, ash disposal units, residential area, schools and play areas. She informed the finance minister that Nespak is preparing PC-I for the whole project which would include construction of jetty and related infrastructure.

The finance minister emphasised that as this was the flagship project of the PML-N government therefore it should be placed on fast track.

He said that ultra super technology should be used and detailed study from independent sources should be carried out. He said that the resource envelope was limited and they had to operate within the available resources.

He underlined that domestic private sector resources would be encouraged on BOT basis. He appreciated that this was the least cost energy generation model which would meet the short to medium term energy requirements.

The finance minister also directed the IPDF (infrastructure project development facility) to work in close collaboration with project director at Gadani project.

\He urged for putting on fast track Jamshoro coal fired project for which funding was already available from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).