NEPRA hearing: NTDC admits unjustified projects included in IGCEP 2021-30

ISLAMABAD: The revised draft of Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2021-30 prepared by NTDC (National Transmission Dispatch Company) invited criticism for violating the grid code and criteria under the NEPRA Act which says future projects will be made keeping in view the least cost generation, location and capacity.

However, NTDC made its own 5-6 criteria to adjust 25-30 unjustified projects in the plan. One of NTDC's board members stunned all power sector stakeholders, including the provinces, when he acknowledged that it had made 5-6 criteria to adjust the projects in the revised IGCEP draft because of the intervention from the Energy Ministry. This all unfolded here on Tuesday during the day-long hearing on Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2021-30.

NTDC instead of being praised on the draft drew criticism not only from NEPRA members but also from Sindh, KPK and AJK governments and other stakeholders. NTDC is found have made various criteria for committed and indicative power projects which irritated NEPRA members a lot.

NTDC made coterie under which the projects have LOS from PPIB and they are G2G and have PC-1 approved will qualify for committed projects. When the provincial governments came to know it, they blasted NTDC saying they have many projects fulfilling the criteria but they have not been included in the committed project lists. During the hearing it also came to surface that many projects having financiering arrangements, generational licences and even tariffs from Nepra have not been made part of the IGCEP- 2021-30. So much so, many projects which were earlier part of the plan have been excluded from the committed plants list.