KARACHI, July 3: The first gas turbine of Karachi Electric Supply Company’s 377 million dollars 560-megawatt Combined Cycle Power Plant at Bin Qasim, called BQPS-2, arrived in Karachi while two more gas turbines are scheduled to land in the middle of July.
Mr. Tabish Gauhar, CEO of KESC, said on this occasion: “We are determined to aggressively deliver on our commitment to improve electricity supply situation for the people of Karachi. The BQPS-2 is the biggest under-construction thermal power project in Pakistan. With the addition of 560 MWs, our flag ship Bin Qasim Power Station would overtake our competitors to stand as the country’s largest thermal power complex with installed capacity of 1820mw megawatts.”
The project is being financed through a combination of equity funded by shareholders, and long term loans provided by the Asian Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and a syndicate of Pakistani banks comprising National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited and Standard Chartered Bank. Initial letters of credit for the project were opened by a consortium of banks including the long term lenders, Dubai Islamic Bank and Faysal Bank.
The shipments of associated auxiliaries have already landed and the ground work is in full swing. Installation of the turbines will commence in August. First gas turbine of the plant will start providing electricity to the KESC power network in June 2011, second in July, third in August on the open cycle mode the same year .The combined cycle operation will start in March 2012.
According to work details, the Environmental Monitoring Plan has been initiated. Detail Design Engineering Review is in progress. Pilling work for gas and steam turbines has been completed, foundation of GT-1 has been poured, intake and outfall channel work and fuel oil tank foundation works are in progress with rapid pace. Steel structure of the fuel tanks and gas turbine building has also arrived.
The three gas turbines are manufactured by GE, France, and the steam turbine from HARBIN, China which is the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contractor for this project. When ABRAAJ Capital took over KESC in the third quarter of 2008, one of the most important targets was to expedite the construction of the 560 MW Plant on war footings.
This plant can be described as one of the most economical as well as most efficient combined-cycle projects in Pakistan, as compared to other projects being constructed using the same technology. The project is to be built under a fixed price formula, and will follow World Bank environmental guidelines.
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