Islamabad: The federal government has assured National Power Parks Management Company Ltd (NPPMCL) it will cover the remaining cost of two RLNG-based power plants in Balloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah, a news source reported. The finance division had requested Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to approve the issuance of government guarantee.
It said NPPMCL was mandated to operate two re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) based power generation plants at Balloki, district Kasur, and Haveli Bahadur Shah, district Jhang, with capacity of 1223 MW and 1230 MW respectively.
Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved the project worth PKR 190.44 billion in February 2016. Of the total cost, PKR 114 billion was provided by the federal government as cash development loan (CDL) to NPPMCL.
NPPMCL was asked to arrange the remaining financing itself. Subsequently, a meeting of the federal cabinet approved the acquisition of two RLNG power plants of NPPMCL by Pakistan Development Fund Limited (PDFL).
PDFL secured PKR 114 billion, disbursed to NPPMCL, as an advance against equity injection by PDFL. It also provided a short-term loan of PKR 32.738 billion to partially fulfill the funding requirements.
NPPMCL later requested the finance and power Divisions to arrange project financing requirements of PKR 70 billion to pay off the remaining cost of projects and short-term loan of PDFL.
It was decided that the principal amount of PKR 32.738 billion provided by PDFL to NPPMCL as short-term loan would be converted into PDFL equity into NPPMCL.
NPPMCL will raise PKR 38 billion from financial institutions backed by government guarantee to pay off the remaining cost of the two power plant projects.
