KESC undertakes investment plan of Rs40 billion

KARACHI: Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has reaffirmed its commitment towards Pakistan by announcing an ambitious investment plan in excess of Rs40 billion (USD 400 million), according to a statement on Wednesday.

KESC has already invested around USD one billion over the last four years in various large-scale projects in generation, transmission and distribution, it said.

The new Rs40 billion investment plan is aimed at enhancing KESC’s generation capacity, improving its generation fleet efficiency, reducing the cost of power generation and building the requisite transmission capacity to meet the growing power demand across its service territory.

These projects will be completed over the next 18-36 months and KESC will arrange the required funding from local and foreign institutions in the shape of both debt and equity, according to the statement.

Tabish Gauhar, chief executive officer of KESC, in a related statement said, “We believe in the potential that Pakistan offers and despite difficult operating environment, we have demonstrated this through unprecedented investment in the past.”

“The new investment plan is just a reiteration of this belief and comes at a time when Pakistan is witnessing the dampening of investors’ sentiment, both local and foreign.”

Under the new investment plan, KESC is undertaking combined cycle projects at its three power plants at Korangi and SITE that will significantly enhance the efficiency of these plants and add additional 47MW of generation capacity.

A specially designed “Transmission package” will see the installation of new transformer bays, addition of three new grid stations at strategic locations and extension of six existing grid stations, he said.

In line with the strategic intent to bring down the cost of generation, the new investment plan will allow KESC to convert two of its oil-fired units of 210MW each at its Bin Qasim-I to coal.

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