The first power plant was to be completed on January 1, 2016, but as a result of no gas supply the power project remained uncompleted, the official said. The official said that the PPIB and the Ministry of Water and Power so far have caused a significant delay as the first phase of the power project with a capacity to produce 400MW was to commission on January, 1, 2016, but it could not happen as the PPIB did not complete the required work.
The official added that the KP government wanted to complete the project by itself without the involvement of the PPIB and requested the federal government to allocate gas for the plants, but senior official in the Ministry of Finance opposed the idea saying that the provincial government has no such expertise. The Petroleum Ministry official said that now the Directorate General (DG) of gas was preparing a new summary for the ECC wherein provincial government will be allocated with 100 MMCFD of gas sufficient to produce 500 MW of power.
The KP is producing around 350 MMCFD of the natural gas, which is sufficient to cater province's winter requirements, while in summer it has up to 110 MMCFD of surplus gas. The KP government had already completed much work on the power plants to realize it on time, but due to delay in gas supply to the plants further progress is stalled. Had the ECC not deviated from the original summary, loadshedding would have been significantly reduced in KP and adjacent parts of Punjab. The federal government needs to implement the decision of the ECC in letter and sprit as the province was a gas producing region and has sufficient gas to run the power plants for at least 9 months a year.
The officials said that the KP government pleaded the case very well and it was fully supported by Ishaq Dar, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Khawaja Asif, but it was objected by Secretary Finance that since the KP government does not have the expertise therefore, the project should be given to the PPIB for implementation. Later, the Minister of Finance also supported the opinion of the Secretary Finance. As per the decision of the ECC, 50 Mmcfd of the gas was to be allocated on 1-1-2016 and 50 Mmcfd on 1-1-2018. But till to date PPIB even did not issue a tender notice for this purpose. The sources say that the CM KP has met Federal Ministers a number of times on gas allocation and gas meters for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially Gas producing districts but all in vain.