LAHORE, Dec 10 (APP):Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division), Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan laid the foundation stone of 500 kV grid station Lahore North and 220 kV grid station Quaid-e-Azam Business Park and allied transmission lines in district Sheikhupura with a cost of around Rs 24 billion in total.
He also inaugurated the associated transmission of QABP grid station, i.e. 04 km long Transmission Line IN / OUT from Bandala-Kala Shah Kaku Circuit -I & II.
While addressing the ground-breaking ceremonies, the minister for power appreciated the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) for launching two mega projects of new grid stations and 113 km long Balloki Converter Station-500kV Lahore North – 500kV Nokhar grid station transmission line.
He said that the 500 kV grid station Lahore North will play an important role to reduce system and line losses and improve the voltage profile of associated LESCO and GEPCO network, which will result in the reduction of cost of electricity too. He said that the government was focusing on the production of cheap electricity from indigenous resources like Thar coal, wind, solar and hydel. He said that 2000 MW of cheap power from Thar coal alone will be added to the national grid before the end of June-2023.
Managing Director NTDC, Engr. Dr. Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan also addressed the ground-breaking ceremony and said that the Lahore North grid station project will be constructed utilizing the loan from Asian Development Bank (ADB). The project will be completed with a cost of Rs 20.7 billion in March-2024 (630 days completion period).
The project will further improve the reliability of the NTDC, LESCO and GEPCO system networks, besides providing an additional source of power supply to meet the growing demand for LESCO.
Engr. Khurram Dastgir also performed the ground breaking for 220 kV Quaid-e-Azam Business Park grid station. During the ground-breaking ceremony, the minister for power said that the main objective of the project is to meet the load demand of QABP Special Economic Zone being developed by Punjab Industrial Estate Development Management Company (PIEDMC). The project will be completed at the cost of Rs 3 billion.
MD NTDC also addressed the ground-breaking ceremony and said that this project will help to boost the industry being set up in the Special Economic Zone. The project will be completed in the 4th quarter of 2023.
GM/country head CET, Mr. Wang Bo, MD Transmark, Mansoor H. Nasir and local politicians also addressed the groundbreaking ceremonies.
