Nandipur power project to collapse if it gets operational

[fjavaid]

Let us look at the Nandipur power project objectively based on what I know about it.

It is a 425 MW power project with a cost of about $574-million when it was announced in 2008. About $1.35-millin per MW, not too excessive for a combined cycle thermal power plant. Completion was expected to be in 2011; 3 years being quite normal for power plants lead in time.

It can only be the complete ineptitude of the PPP gov’t that no one cared to keep an eye on the progress of the project. Hence much of the project machinery was stuck at Karachi Port for 2 years for unknown reasons. By that time natural gas was no longer available for this plant. Cost is therefore now double the original estimate.

Understand main reason of the increased cost is that plant is a gas turbine designed to burn natural gas. It can also be run on jet (kerosene) & gas oil (diesel) without a problem but because of the sulphur & metals limits; imported high Sulphur fuel oil (Furnace oil) can not be burnt. Therefore additional investment in a fuel oil treatment plant was required. In comedy of errors; capacity of fuel oil treatment plant being installed is less than the requirements; thus if & when everything is up and running; output will be limited to 250 MW.

The plant was inaugurated with much fanfare in May 31, 2014 by the Sharif brothers but it couldn't run beyond 5 days because it was burning gas oil with the production cost at Rs 85 per KWH (Then gas oil was $1000 per ton).

I am just a minor energy consultant, but if I were to make such errors, I wouldn’t get another assignment in a million years. However, despite the fact that MD & other plant engineers must have known what they were doing, they were awarded pride of performance medals for bringing the project on line!!!!

It is not that Pakistan lacks good engineers; it is only that we are so used to defrauding others that we have started to deceive ourselves. Such gross errors will continue until we start giving priority to merit & diligence instead of the current preference for political patronage & nepotism..

*
*
at last a sensible post ..thumbs up for that..... storage cost at port, holding time for contract n then again mobilizing , n ppl who are talking about the cost then hv *#$% idea how much turbine cost with is M&O, spares n what are the delivery schedule ...every " matric spply holder becomes a engineering analyst jst from news ticker by noble media n "SIYASI BIYAN aka 35 punctures" of IK

however there is no doubt that in hurry to complete engineering matters were messed up, n now its time to rectify those ..

 

[Jzaib]

NS is master of white collar crime. after so many failed projects by Punjab government now this one is added in their record as well

 

[VCheng]

As for the topic, the problem is exactly the kind of stuff that has plagued Nandipur...personal dreams of one person bulldozing aside all sorts of rules and regulations, and money being pumped in on the whims of a person just to satisfy his ego. Mismanagement, corruption.

What are "personal dreams of one person bulldozing aside all sorts of rules and regulations, and money being pumped in on the whims of a person just to satisfy his ego. Mismanagement, corruption" but a fiefdom in the civilian domain and a dictatorship in the military domain? Either way, Nandipur remains an emblem of deep seated problems with governance in Pakistan at all levels.

 

[-blitzkrieg-]

The Chinese are working on overhauling the entire turbine set which Zardari kept under heavy humidity for years. (what a fukking moron), just to make money!

Lame excuses by nalaik league, the world is laughing.

There are dehumidifiers used in warehouse where any sensitive machinery is kept. And its not really a big deal.

Zardari would have not bothered people coming in and installing the necessary dehumidifiers as long as he was getting his money therefore this sounds like a cooked up story OR the project manager was so inefficient he didnt know shit and that was because no govt. body was overseeing it the way they should have.

There is much more to it. Having Dong Fang black listed first and then getting them back to work was a position the govt. had to retreat hinting they did some nalaiki in the whole process.

Quoting Ansar Abbasi here,
"
the government has ordered three probes i.e auditor general has been asked to do the audit, Ferguson has also been approached to look into the matter besides engaging Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid to inquire the matter and fix the responsibility. "

This probe is coming in so late, (though a good step) but after a waste of hundreds of millions .

 

[Dubious]

and Hindu

lovely...go read a Hindu then

Good to know you are an indian coz I am yet to see a Pakistani even bothering to learn that language @Jazzbot @Jango Now I get why he is mad supporter of NS

professionals

So far none of the tajarba group are professionals ...repeating the SAME games over and over and claiming themselves professionals is an insult to the word itself!

NS and SS don't plan projects, they approve what the professionals have assessed is to be true. So if the professionals didn't understand that there may be damage to the machinery from the inside as the machines initially ran and based on which, they announced the timeline. They still MET the timeline and the plant ran at full capacity for a week. So if it broke down, only God would've known the reason!!! Which then took additional months to get machinery analyzed by the best of the best engineers Pakistan has. So give blame to where its due and credit to where that is due. At the end, your country is growing and it does make you look good too in the world if you decide to travel and go places. Just don't tell others you used to support IK . No hard feelings, I wrote this post in a light / joking manner.

Just look at this post and almost each sentence shows CARELESSNESS, Lack of management skills and even neglect and ignorance.

Machine damaged from inside went unchecked so how do they do their work and call themselves professionals?
Its like cheering for a project (with face and credits due to Shariff bros) that cost the country and then when its broken blame other people! Well this is called neglect and in any country a person with a reputation would have lost it, been sacked or just stepped down out of shame!

It ran for a week cost more to run it hence had to be shut down...less to do with machinery more to do with planning....oil and gas is not cheap and it is common knowledge...but yet they dragged the project for years, its costs went sky rocketing but they still wanted to run it? It needed an additional converter but they still wanted to run it? That is a shame that you see this worth supporting....then again howelse do people get rich if not juice the money from someplace through worthless projects (not just one mind you)

My country is loosing more than it is growing we would have had been some million richer had the Shariff bros even the minimal knowledge about machinery, long term costs or even basic knowledge that fossil fuel is expensive!

 

[war&peace]

Nandipur is a glaring example of PML-N's corruption and incompetence.

 

[saadee]

Slightly Confused...
Why blame the present and the past government? who are the Project managers, Operations managers, energy minister? And why can they add an additional treatment plant? hell why can't you get NG onsite? Why would NG disappear in 2 years? Why is there no Public Investigation Litigation on this? what about external auditors, any reports?



What specific equipment (sensitive and super expensive) are you referring to ? Which manufacturer?

Pay them their share and they will make it happen.

 

[cloud_9]

Respected Sir

Is the feasibility report publicly available? Cursory google search didn't show any result and I couldn't find any concrete information of ROI guaranteed also.

Most of the time it's not carried out or the matter is left to some unknown Pakistani firms which are nothing more than a bunch of retired military men looking for some extra income.
Maybe you haven't read about how LBG was kicked out of the Islamabad Airport project,so that all the new players can have their share.