LAHORE - Atlas Powergen has been selected through the Government International Competitive Bidding (ICB) process for 220 MW RLNG based power project with investment of $ 220 million as part of the government’s fast track effort to bring more power into the system based on clean energy. NEPRA has officially declared Atlas Powergen as the winner of the ICB bid while Ministry of Petroleum has also provided it with a firm Gas Supply commitment to proceed with the project.

In a ceremony to mark the award of the (Engineering Procurement & Construction) EPC contract and the Notice To Proceed (LNTP), Atlas Powergen, a group company of the Atlas Group, signed two agreements with SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corp., the renowned Chinese engineering firm. Siemens, the global engineering powerhouse, will supply and install its state of the art gas and steam turbine as the core components of the project. To mark the occasion, Chairman of SEPCOIII, Mr Wang Lujun, personally flew in from China. Mr Saquib Shirazi and Helmut Von Struve participated on behalf of the Atlas Group and Siemens respectively.

At the ceremony, the Chairman of SEPCOIII remarked that “The Atlas project is a prestigious project for us as it marks the first new private sector LNG based IPP, which will not only add power to the national grid but also strengthen the growing Pak-China friendship. SEPCOIII is proud to have been selected. Its commitment to Pakistan can be gauged by its work underway at both the 1230 MW Havali Bahadar LNG based and the 1,320 MW Port Bin Qasim coal fired power projects”.

Commenting on the signing, Mr Von Struve said “Siemens is proud to be associated with Atlas Powergen, a subsidiary of one of the leading groups of Pakistan. We are optimistic that this joint Pak-German-China partnership would set new benchmarks in terms of cross border cooperation, optimum efficiency and project completion within the Siemens proven Fast Track Mode to meet the government’s tight deadlines.”

Setup with investment of $220 million, the 220 MW IPP, to be located near the load center at Sheikhupura, was awarded through the recently concluded Government International Competitive Bidding (ICB) process conducted by the Ministry of Water and Power and PPIB as part of the government’s fast track effort to add more power to national grid in the short term.

The Ministry of Water and Power envisages the LNG based projects as a good compliment to the long term solution of indigenously produced Hydel and Coal projects. Atlas Powergen project is expected to deliver 150MW of electricity from open cycle operations by April 2017 and 220 MW by early 2018. The challenging timelines have been agreed with SEPCOIII and Siemens.

The initial financing arrangements have been put in place while the work at the Site has already started. The company is expected to apply for the LOS from PPIB in the coming days.