KESC will soon take up repair works at BQTPP

Karachi: The damaged unit of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) at Bin Qasim thermal power plant (BQTPP) has further reduced the power generating capacity of the company, which is yet to cater the citys 2,000 MW plus electricity demand.

According to sources, the repair of Unit-2 at BQTPP, which had developed some fault as the KESC was permanently running it on low power generating capacity, would cost the company around Rs. 40 million.

They said that the faulty unit would take at least four months to be repaired and would cause more power shortage and the resultant load shedding in the metropolis, as now two (Unit 2 and 6) of the six units at BQTPP had become dysfunctional. The remaining four units of Bin Qasims are generating around 710 MW as its unit-1, 3, 4 recorded generating electricity of 170 MW each while unit-5 had the power generation of 200 MW on Friday.

After the failure of Bin Qasim Unit-2, which normally generates at least 170 MW, the citizens have now started braving 6 to 7 hours of load shedding, sources said, adding that the demand and supply gap had widened to around 500 MW. The restoration of Kannup, which was also dysfunctional for the last two months, could also not minimise the gap.

However, they said, the supply from Defence Cogan Ltd (DCL), which normally generates around 90 MW, was still out of order since last month. They said that to meet the current demand the companys total supply was around 1600 MW, leaving 400 MW of power shortage on Friday.

'Surprisingly, the PPP-led government has taken no step so far to improve the power crisis despite tall claims that it would make the city load shedding-free by 2010,' sources said. They also expressed fear that the demand would go beyond 2200 MW in the coming weeks as the temperature has started rising with the climate change.

According to sources, Wapdas supply has also shrunk to 50 percent, as the current supply is 300 out of 600 MW. They said that the KESC management was not serious about the grave situation of power in the city and they were only interested to save money. There were reports of hours-long power outages of three to four times in different areas of the metropolis like PIB Colony, Keamari, Sadar, Liaqatabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, North Nazimabad, Gulistan-e-Johar, Malir Cantt, Shah Faisal Colony, Lasbela House, Tariq Road, Korangi, etc, sources added.

However, when asked, Ayesha Erabie, official spokesperson of KESC, said that no unit of BQTPP was damaged, but unit-2 was undergoing routine maintenance. According to her, electricity demand on Friday was 1900 MW while the short fall was only 150 MW.