Soomro praises two RLNG power plants of Punjab

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Privatisation Mohammedmian Soomro has appreciated the layout and functioning of the two power plants, run on Re-Gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG), which were set up in Haveli Bahadar Shah and Baloki by the previous government.Under his own signatures, the minister has written an appreciation letter, a copy of which was available with The News, to the chief executive officer (Dhanpat Kotak) of the Haveli Bahadar Shah power plant after paying a visit to it.Addressing the letter with the subject of “appreciation of the entire team of NPPMCL” to Kotak, Soomro wrote: “I and Shahid Raza were delighted to visit 1230MW CCPP [Combined-cycle power plant] Haveli Bahadar Shah owned by National Power Park Management Company Limited (NPPMCL). Earlier my colleagues Rizwan Malik, Secretary, Privatisation Commission, and Shahid Raza had visited the Balloki Plant and express similar sentiments for that visit. We thank you and your colleagues for memorable visits.”“It was indeed an enlightening and educative visit, and we were very impressed with the layout, maintenance and the entire functioning and future plan (including tree plantation mentioned by you). The new plant is being looked after well. The dedication and quality of the senior management and personnel headed by you was clearly evident, particularly in the public sector ownership. The whole working is of good quality and prospects encouraging,” the letter read.The minister wrote that “in connection with ongoing privatisation process and coordination with NPPMCL team, we now have a much better appreciation, understanding and working relation. We appreciate the support extended to the Privatisation Commission by the NPPMLC team. Please continue with your commendable work.” He noted that this is a landmark transaction for the country and also very challenging. “We are re-entering the market after a long break. We pray that Allah Paak will bless all involved and our beloved country with tremendous success.”It is gathered that the minister’s visit was part of the assessment he and his team are doing before the planned privatisation of the two RLNG power plants, owned by the federal government to shore up the much-needed foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan. The two 2,446 megawatts plants had cost $700 each. The government expects over $2 billion as the privatisation proceeds. A financial institution has been engaged as transaction adviser for this deal.In October last, a visiting Saudi delegation had shown interest to clinch a government-to-government deal for these power plants, but Pakistan has declined the offer saying that its legal framework does not allow selling assets without following a rigorous competitive process. A finance ministry official said that an amount of $700 million each was spent on setting up the federal government-owned Haveli Bahadur Shah and Balloki power plants. He said the total amount of $1,400m was taken from the Pakistan Development Fund Limited (PDFL), which was set up with the then Saudi Kind Abdullah’s $1.5 billion gift to the then government in 2013. He said the proceeds of the sale of the two plants would be the federal government’s funds that it can use the way it likes.The third RLNG project at Bhikki in Punjab, which had also cost $700 million and was financed by the Punjab government from its own resources to generate 1,200 megawatt electricity, doesn’t so far figure on the privatization list.

from The News International - National https://ift.tt/33ZE1iX