Daily Times

The National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) has successfully completed the 500kV Thar Matiari Transmission line in record time on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The 220-kilometre-long transmission line has been completed by NTDC with a cost of approximately Rs. 15 billion within two and half months from its own resources, official sources told APP here Friday.

They said it was the most important project for Pakistan’s future energy needs through which coal-fired power generation in Thar would be connected to the rest of the country. A 220-kilometres-long line had been laid but the total length of the transmission was 800 km and it would definitely help improve the power transmission system, they added. The sources said the transmission line would connect the 1320 MW SECL coal plant in Thar to Matiari Converter station.

Some 54 individual crews, consisting of over 300 labourers worked relentlessly on the project for its timely completion, the official sources informed.

The Thar-Matiari transmission line is the second project of the current year that NTDC has completed despite several problems. Earlier, the Polan-Jiwani transmission line project for Gwadar to import 100 MW of electricity from Iran has also been completed by NTDC in record time.

It is worth mentioning here that to monitor the pace of work on the project, a camp office of NTDC’s top management was also set up at Mithi (Thar) near the project site.