K-Electric, NIP sign Rs1.8bn agreement for construction of grid station at BQIP

  • KE will ensure the provision of electricity for under-construction industrial units before they go into full production

KARACHI: The government was committed to creating an enabling environment for the businesses to grow and contribute to the economic development in the country.

In this regard, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood had ordered a special drive to address the chronic issues in the industrial zones of the country so that the business could grow and flourish in these zones.

Bin Qasim Industrial Park (BQIP) was a 950-acre special economic zone situated on the Pakistan Steel Mills’ land. It was a project of the National Industrial Parks (NIP) Development and Management Company, a wholly-owned entity of Ministry of Industries and Production.

Currently, BQIP has only one 11KV feeder line of 4MW load capacity coming from K-Electric’s Pinri grid station, which was currently unable to cater to the needs of the growing number of industrial units.

Lately, four of the zone enterprises, which were expected to come into full production capacity in the next 2-3 months, showed their serious concerns on the inability of the special economic zone to fulfil their immediate electricity needs of approximately 17MW.

On the direction of the PM’s advisor, the KE authorities were engaged to find an immediate solution to the issue. NIP and KE have jointly come up with short and long-term solutions to meet the electricity needs of the BQIP (SEZ) enterprises.

In this regard, a memorandum of understanding was signed on Wednesday between the KE and NIP at Karachi. Under the MoU, KE would immediately commence work on laying four 11KV feeder lines of 4-4.5MW for the under-construction industrial units and would ensure supply of needed electricity before they go into full production.

Investors of the zone enterprises were also present at the signing ceremony and expressed their profound gratitude to Abdul Razak Dawood for his timely intervention and support to make it happen as it’s in the larger interest of the country.

They viewed that such measures are expected to attract more investment in the industrial zones of the country.

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