The cost of a 132 kV Grid Station for the provision of power supply to Bin Qasim Industrial Park (BQIP) increased by 141 percent in the last two years due to delays in the execution of the project.
Although the project scope is unchanged, the cost of the project has abnormally increased within two years, official documents available with the scribe reveal.
The original PC-I of the proposed project was approved by CDWP in June 2020 at a total cost of Rs. 1,493 billion, including FEC of Rs. 962.069 million. However, in the revised estimate, the cost of the project escalated to Rs. 3.60 billion, including the FEC of Rs. 2.416 billion.
Sponsored by the Industries and Production Division, the project’s objective is to provide an uninterrupted power supply to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Bin Qasim Industrial Park (BQIP).
Due to delays, the project cost has been increased from Rs. 1.4 billion to Rs. 3.6 billion (141 percent increase), which includes the cost of the transmission line bay (265 percent increase), the cost of 132 kV GS (176 percent), and the cost of 2×40 MVA Transformers (273 percent). The gradual increments in the project cost caused a delay of 1.9 years in project execution as the project was approved in 2020.
The sponsors or investors may also furnish the impact of exchange rates and cost escalation for each cost component compared to the original approved price for the same items and necessitate that there will be no further revision of the cost estimates in the future.
The planning commission observed that the cost of Right of Way (RoW) increased from Rs. 50 million to Rs. 150 million (200 percent increase) in the revised PC-I. Most projects face delays due to improper and untimely surveys for Right of Way, and the sponsors may provide justification for this increase, the planning commission noted.
