Chinese power firms receivables hit Rs340bn

KARACHI: Chinese power companies operating in Pakistan have demanded the authorities to clear their outstanding dues of Rs340 billion as increasing liquidity challenges are pushing them to the verge of shutdown, The News learnt on Tuesday.

These companies have also presented some proposals to sort out the issues hampering their operations as well as execution of new projects.

Chinese power companies submitted a detailed report, covering the whole range of issues with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif recently.

According to the report, because of delays in the payment coupled with its failure to open a revolving account, the 1,320MW Sahiwal coal-fired plant owes a huge capacity payment. On the other hand, the coal supply of the 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant at Port Qasim is about to discontinue for the same reason. The 1,320MW China-Hub Coal Power Project in Hub, Balochistan, doesn’t have the funds to purchase coal for the monsoon season, which has forced the company to shut it down during the months of June and July this year.

The 660MW Engro Thar Coal Power Project is facing severe cash flow constraints because of low recovery of receivables and large overdue payments. This unit has also been waiting for a NEPRA tariff true-up decision for almost thirty months. The 1,320MW SSRL Thar Coal Block Power Plant is hit by insufficient payment of tariff under CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor), delaying the evaluation and financial close of the project.

Hydro China Dawood Wind Power Project complained that instead of using double 132kw circuit power transmission line to transmit electricity from Dawood Farm and two others, NTDC was using only a single transmission line to connect three wind farms in Gharo, resulting in evacuation of power from three wind farms in one direction.

The 100MW UEP Wind Farm Jhimpir, Thatta, is yet to receive due payments from Central Power Purchasing Authority (CCPA). The 100MW Three Gorges Second & Third Wind Power Project, Karot Hydropower Project, and Kohala Power Project have been facing delay in collection of payments on energy invoices since July 2021.

Zonergy Company Limited’s 900MW Solar Power Plant sought the payment of its outstanding dues of Rs10.4 billion.

Matiari to Lahore Transmission Line Project complained that National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) had defaulted on the transmission service payment, which was severely hampering its normal operations. The report said that the operator of the 300MW coal-fired power project Gwadar was not satisfied with some of the components of the tariff approved by NEPRA in 2019 and demanded the government to resolve the issue immediately.