France Provides €180 Million soft loan for NTDC projects

Abida Shaheen

Islamabad: Dr. Kazim Naiz, Secretary of Economic Affairs Division (EAD), H.E. Mr Nicolas Galey, Ambassador of France, and Mr. Philippe Steinmetz, Country Director of the French Development Agency (AFD), signed the Credit Facility Agreement of €180 million to finance the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) Transmission Lines and Grid stations Projects. These Projects are located in Punjab in the vicinity of the cities of Vehari, Arifwala and Sialkot.

This soft loan will support the NTDCin its transmission mandate and to provide reliable and efficient power in major cities of Punjab. The funding will also help enhance the transmission of green energy and efficient power distribution in Pakistan. Such benefits will contribute to improving affordability and scaling up the energy supply. These will be achieved while also mitigating the impacts of climate change, in line with the policies of the Government of Pakistan.

This funding provided by AFD will:

1. Help to enhance the reliability of the power supply and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
2. Benefit & improve the quality of power supply for 26 million inhabitants.
3. Provide reliable power supply to biggest industrial and sports city (Sialkot).

The three components of the project are as follows:

• In the locality of Arifwala: the construction of a new 220kV substation and 50km of new 220kV transmission lines to be connected to it. The new substation will be connected to the MEPCO grid;
• In the locality of Vehari: the upgrade of the existing 220kV substation to 500 kV level and 48km of new 500kV transmission lines to be connected to it. The substation is connected to the MEPCO grid;
• In the locality of Sialkot: the construction of a new 500kV substation and 55km of new 500kV transmission lines and 36km of new 220kV transmission lines to be connected to it. The new substation will be connected to the GEPCO grid.

The project will contribute to the Government of Pakistan’s strategy to develop green energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the French Government’s agenda of promoting climate-friendly projects. It is also part of thepledge and commitments announced by France at the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan, which took place in Geneva on January 9, 2023.

France, through the French Development Agency, is providing technical and financial support in several sectors such as energy, water and sanitation, urban development, rural development, health and cultural heritage.

Since 2006, €1.232billion has been committed to Pakistan. The clean energy sector alone has mobilized a total of €930 million.