Pakistan Inaugurates Gas Fired Power Plant

Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif April 19 inaugurated the gas-fired combined cycle power plant at Bhikki in the state of Punjab, state news agency Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. This will add 717 MW to the national grid and when the plant is fully complete it will provide 1.18 GW.

The project has been completed jointly by AEPL, General Electric, Harbin Electric International and their construction contractor Tianjin Electric. According to APP,production cost of the plant is about $466,000/MW.

Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif (Credit: Wikipedia)

Gas plays a major role in Pakistan’s economy, being split between power generation (35%), industry (23.8%), fertilizer (15.6%), CNG (5.4%) and households (18.1%), according to government data. The south Asian nation has suffered from a severe gas shortage for the past few years which has resulted in black-outs impacting industrial activities.

Over the last couple of years, the government has worked on enhancing supply of gas in the domestic market as it continues to work towards building LNG infrastructure.

Shardul Sharma