LAHORE: State Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali and Member National Assembly Chaudhry Tahir Bashir Cheema inaugurated 220kV Chishtian grid station in Bahawalnagar on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that the government was committed to eliminating load shedding from the country. Power projects of over 10,000MW capacity are being completed on fast track.
The 220kV grid station along with 88km transmission line has been constructed by the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) with a total outlay of Rs 2,633 million. The minister appreciated the NTDC management, engineers and staff for timely completion of the project and said that the grid station would end forced load shedding, improve voltage level and minimise tripping. Resultantly, power supply for the people of Chishtian, Bahawalnagar, Hasilpur, Noor Sar, Haroonabad, Dhahranwala and Fortabbas will be improved in urban and rural, he said.
The minister said that the Ministry of Water and Power, NTDC and distribution companies (DISCOs) had overcome 90 percent system constraints and maximum relief would be provided to the consumers during Ramazan.
He announced that there would be no load shedding across the country on the day of Pakistan Super League (PSL) final match being held in Lahore. He told assured the locals for creation of new subdivisions in the Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) offices to ease their problems related to electricity.
While giving the details of NTDC projects, NTDC GSC General Manager Wajahat Saeed Rana said that 220kV grid station would provide power to six 132kV grid stations of MEPCO for subsequent distribution to feeders. He said that NTDC was completing its projects on war footing to connect 50 power plants with the national grid. “Presently, 37 projects of grid stations and transmission lines are under different stages of completion.
He mentioned that the NTDC had recently connected 1,320MW coal-fired power plant and 1,230MW RLNG Bhikki Power Plant. Whereas transmission line for 230MW Haveli Bahadur Shah Project will be connected soon since its transmission line has already been completed, he added.
