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As part of its strategy to resolve the ongoing power controversy, the Pakistani government has decided to allow export of about 2,000 MW surplus power to India on "Island Mode" basis. Well-placed sources told The News that a decision in principle to this effect has been taken and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been assigned the task of "honest-power broker" in the process of export and import of power between India and Pakistan.
The Water and Power Ministry has concluded initial negotiations with the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), which are providing technical assistance in finalising agreement between the two countries and interconnection facilities. The ADB is estimating to finalise the deal between the two countries latest by June this year, ADB sources said. Consequently, the ADB has been provided with two reports prepared by NESPAK and Javed Burki committee on the power export, and has been asked to negotiate with the Indian government. Simultaneously, the Foreign Ministry has also been asked to take up the issue with Indian government at diplomatic level. According to ADB sources, the bank will provide assistance to develop cross-border electricity trade between India and Pakistan based on following mutual benefits. These include the development of complementary energy resources, advantage taken of load and hydrological diversities, increased supply reliability, reduced reserve capacity requirements, reduced system losses and reduced adverse environmental impact. The ADB will broker between Powergrid Corporation of India (Powergrid) and Wapda covering power sales and interconnection facilities. Based on the assumption that Pakistan will continue to produce more than domestic demand and India face shortages, the power export is also being considered as sub-regional economic cooperation between the two countries. Presently, an initial transmission interconnection between Lahore in Pakistan and Amritsar in India at 220 KV besides HVAC and HVDC interconnection through Sindh province in Pakistan to Rajasthan and Gujrat states in India by overhead or undersea transmission lines are being looked into. The ADB is also assisting India and Bangladesh for electricity exchange between West Bengal state in India to West Bangladesh and East Bangladesh to Tripura state through 230 KV double circuit transmission lines. Also, there are proposals for setting up Regional Electric Grid on SAARC or sub-SAARC level. According to a report, Nepal alone has the potential for producing some 83,000 Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Pakistan Power Project in South Asian Politics is owned by Imtiaz Maqbool. Permission to republish Pakistan Power Project in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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