KARACHI, Jan. 26: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday inaugurated the 132 kV Grid Station at Gulshan-e-Maymar with capacity of 40 MVA. This is an outdoor station and hybrid of conventional and GIS (Gas Insulated Switchgear) with control and monitoring through a state-of-art automation system, established in a period of 11 months at a total cost of Rs. 46 crores.
Mr. Tabish Gauhar, CEO of KESC, in his introductory speech on the occasion, said that the grid station would benefit about 17,000 consumers at present, while in the near future, around 40,000 consumers would be connected. This grid station would not only bring relief to the overloaded grids of Federal A and B Areas, but would also play an important role in the growth of Scheme No. 33. The grid has started to supply power through 9 feeders to Gulshan-e-Maymar area, Ahsanabad Area, new societies in KDA Scheme-33 and SITE-II Industrial Area.
He said that three more grid stations would come up within the current year. Also, all the City towns would be revamped with installation of 138 new feeders and about 500 new PMTs. He said that the management had a clear policy of spending all the available resources over installation of new power generation plants and grid stations. This, he remarked, was the best area to spend money, instead of buying perishable items.
At the same time, he said, the Company had been working hard to improve customer care services. More Integrated Business Centres were under completion. One in Gulshan-e-Iqbal would be inaugurated next week while another would come up two weeks later. This, he said, was necessary to prepare the KESC for the future scenario when its monopoly over the Karachi zone would come to an end and more power companies would be working in the field. At that time, he maintained, only the company with highest professional standard of service would survive the competition.
Mr. Tabish also asked the consumers to cooperate with KESC in curtailing the power theft rampant all across the City, which was essential to bring an end to the load shedding. Because of the electricity theft, he pointed out, the utility could not generate enough revenue to purchase oil, maintain outdated generation plants and revamp the transmission circuits.
The CEO said in spite of all hardships, the KESC continued to improve its working within its limited resources on the one hand, and played its due role as a corporate citizen of the Metropolis on the other. He mentioned the recent relief package from KESC to the businesses of Boulton Market affected in the Ashura blast and arson incidents. He disclosed that the utility had paid off electricity bills of December 2009 on behalf of the affected traders of M. A. Jinnah Road which amounted to a total of Rs. 10 million.
He also informed the participants of the inaugural ceremony that during a recent meeting with the Federal Cabinet Committee on Electricity, the KESC had presented several proposals in respect of improving the power supply situation in the City. These included a “general amnesty” to the low income groups involved in illegal use of electricity and to convert their “kundas” into legal connections and introducing a subsidized tariff in low income zones. Also, to conserve energy for the benefit of domestic consumers, the utility had proposed that markets may stop using power by the evening and shift to personal generators during peak hours.
Mr. Tabish Gauhar also presented a souvenir on behalf of KESC to the City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal.
Mr. Ahsan Arshad, Vice Chairman of SITE Association, said in his speech on the occasion that more industrial units would be established in SITE-II Area after the installation of Gulshan-e-Maymar Grid Station. He appreciated KESC’s role in the industrial growth of the country and said that more international importers have already started to deal with Pakistani industries.
Nausheen Hasib, Manager Corporate Communications, conducted the inaugural ceremony.
