ISLAMABAD: A total of 1,200 megawatts (MW) reliable and affordable electricity will be added to the national grid by 2018 after the completion of a new power plant in Muzaffargarh. This was revealed at the 108th meeting of the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) on Friday. Water and Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif chaired the meeting. The decision to establish Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) power project in Muzaffargarh, Punjab had been taken in the light of the advice of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) on 15th September, 2016. The Ministry of Water and Power was told to initiate the process of inviting prospective investors for installation of combined cycle power plant of 1,200MW to address power shortfall. The minister said that the current government believed in the policy of facilitating investors, and did not want them to face any hurdles or delays during the completion of their projects. “In order to make electricity affordable, various short, medium and long term power generation projects, based on coal, hydro, RLNG, solar and wind are being established all across the country in private and public sectors,” he said. PPIB Managing Director Shah Jahan Mirza briefed the board about the Muzaffargarh power project. “The said project will be located in Muzaffargarh near the existing Muzaffargarh Thermal Power Station based on combined cycle technology. The new power plant will have a minimum annual availability of 92 per cent. Open cycle operation is scheduled to start by February, 2018, whereas the full combined cycle operation will start by end of 2018. This is a viable option to address the electricity demand-supply gap in early 2018 and ensuring elimination of load-shedding by that time. Furthermore, due to the highly efficient and state of the art technology of the plant, this will be able to replace old and retiring power plants in the public sector. The request for proposal (RFP) document for the project has been prepared and it will be advertised in the coming days, and bids will be invited through single stage, two envelope bidding approach,” he said. The minister said that the policies of the government were delivering positive results. “The projects which were started in 2013 are now heading towards completion. The nation will witness that load-shedding will end by 2018. The objective of the government is to increase energy security and achieve energy efficiency by optimal expansion of integrated transmission and generation infrastructure,” he said.