ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday signed loan and grant agreements worth $284 million to improve the country’s power transmission network.
It comprises of a $280 million loan from ADB’s ordinary capital resources and a $4 million grant from the High-Level Technology Fund (HLTF) to assist the National Transmission and Dispatch Company Limited (NTDC) to meet Pakistan’s electricity demand of 1,150MW efficiently and reliably.
To attain this target, the NTDC will deploy high-level technologies and climate-resilient transmission systems via load centres in Punjab.
NTDC is the implementing agency of the tranche 3 project under the existing Multi-tranche Financing Facility (MFF) amounting to $810 million.
Certain components of the investment program will be implemented by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (Guarantee) Limited (CPPA-G) including certain capacity components, as set out in the legal agreement for each tranche.
Its objective is to attain improved coverage, reliability, transparency and quality of the power transmission service in the project areas and is expected to be completed by June 2023.
According to ADB, this is the first investment of its kind by the Manila-based lender in Pakistan which will pilot large-scale, grid-connected battery energy storage system and assist NTDC to conform to national standards and best practices in power distribution.
This project will allow enhancing the NTDCs’ capacity to dispatch intermittent renewable energy.
Moreover, this investment will facilitate the development of ancillary services market in Pakistan, which is an important constituent of the future competitive power market, said ADB.
The agreement was signed by ADB Country Director for Pakistan Ms Xiaohong Yang and Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Mr Noor Ahmed at a ceremony in Islamabad.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms Yan said, “The project will help provide a more stable and secure electricity supply, so people and businesses can continue their productivity and contribution to the economy.”
She added, “ADB is working with the government and the private sector to further develop Pakistan’s power supply chain, including expanding the power transmission network.”