As many as 12,464 MW will be added to the national grid system through 25 projects of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) which are in various stages of development.
Sources told APP here that these projects were being facilitated by the Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and would start coming into operation from 2020 to 2028. Giving the breakup, they said 1263 MW RLNG project being set up near Trimmu Barrage Jhang would be ready by 2020. Similarly, five projects having an accumulative capacity of 2047 MW would come into line by 2021. The projects included two 330 each MW Thar Coal power plants, 660 MW Thar Coal power plant, 7.08 MW Riali-II hydropower and 720 Karot Hydropower. Moreover, four projects with a total 2160 MW capacity would be ready by 2022 and these were included 330 MW Thar Coal, 1320 MW Thar coal, 870 MW Suki Kinari hydropower and 300 MW imported coal power plant.
Similarly, they said 1980 MW to be added to the system through IPPs in 2023, 2,124 MW in 2024, 1,172 MW in 2026 and 1,710 MW in 2028. The projects included 700 MW Azad Pattan hydropower, 1,124 MW Kohala hydropower, 300 MW Ashkot hydropower, 640 MW Mahl hydropower, 450 MW Athmuqam hydropower, 82 MW Turtonas-Uzghor hydropower, 163 MW Grange Power Limited etc.
It is pertinent to mention here that Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) was created in 1994 as a “One-Window Facilitator” on behalf of the Government of Pakistan (GoP) to promote private investments in the power sector. In 2012 PPIB was made a statutory organization through the Private Power and Infrastructure Board Act 2012 (Act VI of 2012). The role of PPIB has been further expanded by the GoP by allowing it to facilitate public sector power and related infrastructure projects in IPP mode, for which PPIB’s Act has been amended in November 2015.
PPIB approves IPPs, issues LOIs & LOSs (including Tripartite LOSs), approves Feasibility Studies, executes Implementation Agreements (IAs) and provides GoP guarantees

The Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has injected nine new wells, producing 137,230 Barrels crude oil and 5,562 Million Cubic Feet (MMCF) gas, in its production gathering system during three quarters of the current fiscal year.
“As many as nine operated wells have been injected in the production gathering system viz., Qadirpur-14&61, Pasakhi Deep-4&5, Nashpa-9, Chanda-5, Qadirpur Deep X-1, TAY North-1and Uch-17A which cumulatively yielded gross crude oil and gas production of 137,230 barrels and 5,562 MMCF respectively, whereas installation of Electrical Submersible Pump at Pasahki-5 produced a positive impact of 500 barrels per day,” the company said in its third quarterly report for the financial year 2019-20.
OGDCL’s average daily net saleable production of crude oil stood at 38,125 Barrel per Day (BPD), gas 927 MMCF per Day (MMCFD) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas 771 Ton per Day (TPD) during the nine months.
The official data says the company during July 2019-February 2020 contributed around 46 percent oil, 29 percent gas and 33 percent LPG to the country’s total production of these fuels.
In comparison to the corresponding period last year, the company’s hydrocarbon production was adversely affected primarily owning to the global outbreak of COVID-19 coupled with natural decline at Rajian, Kunnar, Mela, Nashpa, Sinjhoro, TAY, Bobi, Lashari Centre, Tando Alam and Qadirpur fields and mechanical problems at Nashpa, Kunar and KPD fields. “Moreover, gas output was also impacted due to less gas intake from Uch-II and Qadirpur fields by UPL-II (unplanned ATA) and Engro (lower demand by WAPDA during November and December respectively. Further, lower production from NJV fields contributed towards a decline in the production.”
During the nine months, the company spud 16 wells including eight exploratory/appraisal, besides completing drilling and testing of 13 wells about previous fiscal years. “The total drilling recorded was 48,274 meters.” The OGDCL exploratory efforts yielded four oil and gas discoveries namely Pandhi-1 in district Sanghar and Metlo-1 in district Khairpur of Sindh province, Toght-1 and Chanda-5 in district Kohat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “The discoveries have cumulative daily production potential of 24 MMCF of gas and 842 barrels of oil. Preliminary reserves estimates on 2P basis are 48.79 billion cubic feet of gas and 1.51 million barrels of oil, combined 10.24 million barrels of oil equivalent.” n

Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved 8 projects worth Rs. 35.32 billion. The moot deferred 10 projects including ML-I.
Of these, CDWP gave a nod on 7 projects costing Rs.24 billion. However, one project worth Rs. 11.35 billion was referred to the Executive Committee of the NEC.
Secretary Planning, senior officials from Planning Commission, and federal ministries/divisions participated in the meeting while representatives from provincial governments participated through video conference.
Projects related to energy, environment, governance, and ICT were on the agenda of the meeting. Three projects related to energy were presented in the meeting. They include Additional Sources of Supply to Jaranwala Road Grid station worth Rs 5787.32 million, 30.4 MW Jagran-1 Hydropower project, District Neelum, AJK” worth Rs 4306.875 million and Strengthening, Up-gradation and ISO certification of Karachi Laboratories Complex at HDIP Operations Officer, Karachi worth Rs 440.812 million which were finally approved in the meeting.
A project related to the environment titled “Installation of Weather Surveillance Radar at Sukkur in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan” worth Rs. 2522 million was approved in the meeting.
A project related to governance namely “Pakistan Single Window” was referred to ECNEC. The main objective of the project is to facilitate trade, simplification, and integration of the regulatory authority’s process/system for reducing barriers of cross border trade-related activities without compromising required control.
A project related to ICT was presented in the meeting titled “Blended Virtual Education Project for Knowledge Economy” worth Rs. 5990.26 million that was approved by CDWP.
One project presented by the Ministry of KA & GB namely “Rehabilitation of Affected Population Residing along LoC Phase-1” worth Rs 3614.980 million was approved by CDWP. Another project presented by the Ministry of Climate Change titled “Capacity Building on water Quality Monitoring SDG 6” worth Rs. 1275.913 million was also approved in the meeting

The federal government finally approved retrenching 9,350 employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). This lay-off means there is no one left from the old faces now.
However, no one knows if the removals would help achieve the objective as the decision has failed to respond to many questions as regards the revival of the mills.
The government would spend Rs20 billion in one-go on this retrenchment. Only 250 employees would stay for 120 days to complete important tasks.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet gave a go-ahead to what government terms human resource rationalization plan for the mills employees.

The government says the decisions are in accordance with the judgments and observations of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Earlier, the government wanted to lay off 8,000 employees but the plan was revised and a fresh summary was carved out before it received a nod in the moot.
Now after the approval of the federal cabinet, the mills would stand 100 percent retrenched which the experts believed was one of the main obstacles before reviving the mills through a consortium.
The financial impact of the plan works out at Rs19.657bn to be released in a single tranche to pay gratuity and provident funds.
The employees will get one month salary from the approved supplementary grant on account of salaries of PSM employees. Thus, the average payment per employee comes to Rs2.3 million.
The summary of the Ministry of Industries and Production said that due to the poor financial condition of the mills, the government had been paying net monthly salaries to employees since 2013. The situation led the mills to a point where all commercial activities in the units were stopped in 2015. At that time, the mills had a strength of around 15,000 employees.
The decision of the government has surprised many experts from many respects. For instance, the people who have been informed of the issues relating to the mills and its management wonder how Rs20 billion would solve the issue as many service utilities owe millions of rupees to the mills.
An official says that not less than Rs40 billion are required as there are around 6000 ex-employees of the mills who are supposed to get their dues also.
Moreover, the mills have to pay to the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), KWSB, and many other suppliers. This amount may be not less than Rs300 billion, one official claims.
But outstanding dues and payments are not the only issues to deal with. There are issues that are also linked to the land of the mills as the Sindh government has its claim also. This issue also needs to be resolved.
PSM, besides its other land properties, has a residential colony—Pakistan Steel Town—and also colonies in its vicinity.
One official says since the relevant ministry which deals with the mills falls in the ambit of Council of Common Interests (CCI) and there is a probability that this issue may come on the agenda too.
The government’s experts have completed the due diligence of the mills and reports claim there are over 13 parties interested to invest in the revival of the mills.
In sum, there are two targets, one to resolve the issues of employees and two, the revival of the mills. ‘Both are huge challenges, says an official.
Laying off around 10,000 in the times of Covid 19 would create a reaction and also with vulnerable conomies around the world, reviving the mills will emerge as a gigantic task.
The Pak-China Investment Bank had declared in 2015 that with an initial investment of $289m (about Rs29bn), provision of uninterrupted electricity supply, and new management, the PSM had the potential of becoming a profitable enterprise given its ideal location, market, and facilities.
Not only this, but the country`s largest industrial complex could also generate the funds required for expanding its production capacity to three million tonnes, the bank said and proposed a development and expansion plan with a capital investment of $288.77m in the first phase, $300.4m in the second and $296.62m in the third phase. The total investment required was $885.8m, or approximately Rs100bn.