ISLAMABAD: About 7,092 villages will be provided electricity by the end of new fiscal year (2016-17), compared to electrification of 6,046 villages during the outgoing fiscal year 2015-16.
Power generation projects of 5,304 ME capacity would come on line during the year, hence facilitate electrification of more villages, official sources told APP. With the more electricity coming into the national grid, the demand and supply gap in the electricity is expected to narrow down during the year.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project is also expected to add up to 19,400 MW to the national grid by 2018 in the Independent Power Producer (IPP) mode. The CPEC projects include coal, hydro and wind, the sources said adding that it would not only augment supplies in a major way, but also significantly change the energy mix by reducing the average cost of generation.
The development of hydro resources is being actively pursued and about 9551 MW projects are at various stages of construction. Work on 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum is in advance stage as an overall 80.4 percent physical work has been completed on the project. The first unit of 242 MW capacity will start generation in July 2017 and other three units will start generation by the end of 2017. Likewise, the first unit of Tarbela 4th extension will start generation of 470MW in 2016-17.
Other power generation projects are at various stages of construction, including 4500 MW Diamer Bhasha, 128 MW Keyal Khwar, 106 MW Golan Gol, 2160 MW Dasu Hydropower Project, 34.5 MW Harpo, 243 MW 2nd Rehabilitation of Warsak Hydropower Station. Similarly, 2880 MW nuclear power projects are at various stages of construction.
The sources said that the pre-feasibility and feasibility studies of approximately 18,875 MW hydro projects have been completed. The projects are under various stages of approval and finances for these projects are being arranged.
These are 7,100 MW Bunji Hydropower Project, 310 MW Refurbishment and up-gradation of Mangla Generation Unit 1-6, 1100 MW Kohala, 690 MW Shyok Dam, 665 MW Lower Plas Valley, 496 MW Lower Spat Gah, 40 MW Basho, 2300 MW Pattan, 4000 MW Thakot, 2100 MW Dasu Stage-II, 48 MW Jagran, and 26 MW Shagarthang. In addition, almost a total of 4020 MW thermal projects in the public sector are under construction. These are 1320 MW Coal fired Power Plant Jamshoro, while construction on two 2400 MW LNG-based power plants at Haveli Bhadur Shah and Balloki have been started, and 300 MW coal-fired Power Plant Gwadar is under active consideration. These plants are expected to be completed by 2018, the sources added.
