Islamabad - Pakistan and Iran have signed a memorandum of Understanding (moU) for the supply of an additional 100 megawatts electricity to Gwadar. The moU for supply of 100 megawatts electricity to Gwadar was signed during the visit of the Federal Power minister Khurram dastgir Khan to Iran from march 10 to 13, a spokesperson of the Power division said here monday.
The aim of the minister visit was to finalise an agreement of power supply to Gwadar, which was initiated in the minister’s earlier visit in June 2022. during the visit, Khurram dastgir held meetings with Iranian Energy minister ali akber mehrabian. during the meetings, both the ministers emphasised on development of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Iran and extending cooperation in the field of energy. For the finalisation of agreement of power supply, three sessions were held by technical teams in which extensive discussions were held. as a result of these meetings, an agreement was signed on march 13, 2023 between Pakistan and Iran to provide 100mW of electricity. The project will be inaugurated at the earliest, said the spokesperson.
This project will ensure uninterrupted supply to Gwadar and lay the foundations of a prosperous Gwadar. both the Iranian and Pakistani ministers showed interest in initiating new joint ventures in the field of energy. It is worth to mention here that Pakistan is already importing 100mW from Iran, and in June 2022, Pakistan and Iran had consented to sign an agreement for the import of 100mW additional electricity from Tehran.
The infrastructure for the supply of additional electricity on the Iranian side has already been completed; however, related infrastructure on the Pakistan’s side was missing which has now been completed. Polan is in Iran and it is 51-km from Pakistan’s border. Initially, to meet the demand of the border areas of balochistan, the agreement between Pakistan and Iran was signed in 2002, for the import of 34mW electricity in 2002, which was increased to 73MW and finally it has been enhanced to more than 100mW.
The total demand of makran division is around 150mW and Pakistan is already importing 100mW electricity from Iran and Quetta Electricity supply Company is supplying it to makran division through 132kV transmission line. With the evacuation of additional 100mW, the total electricity import from Iran will reach to 200mW. National Transmission and despatch Company limited (NTdC) had already completed the construction work of 29-km long, double-circuit transmission line from Polan to Gwadar. The evacuation of additional 100mW power through new transmission line will be started through this transmission line. The transmission line project has been completed at the cost of 10 million Euro.
