KARACHI: The Hub Power Company Limited (Hubco) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pakistan Defence Officers Housing Authority, Karachi (DHA Karachi) for the revival of DHA Cogen Limited, which will generate 84 MW of electric power for K-Electric and provide 3 million gallons per day of potable water for supplying to Cantonment Board Clifton.
DHA Cogen Limited is a 94-MW gross (80.3-MW net) combined-cycle gas-fired power plant and water desalination facility in Phase VIII of DHA Karachi.
Additionally, Hubco and DHA also have plans to develop a project that would provide 5 million gallons per day of potable water based on Seawater Reverse Osmosis technology for which Hubco already possesses the first right of refusal, the company announced on Friday.
The purpose of this MoU is to jointly evaluate the commercial and technical viability of revival of DHA Cogen Limited and setting up the Seawater Reverse Osmosis Project at the site of DHA Cogen Limited.
This plan is an effort to resume operations of the country’s first privately installed power generation plant after 12 years. As its operator, DHA Cogen Limited, says it is trying to make the plant functional.
The plant was previously under litigation for many years, as the bank that lent money years ago to DHA Cogen Limited has taken it to court for recovery of the loan. In 2013, DHA Cogen Limited approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) against a decision by its single bench, which had dismissed the company’s applications for granting of leave to defend in the matter in which it had been ordered to pay Rs165 million to IGI Investment Bank.
In addition to producing 80.3 MW of net power, the plant uses its steam to produce three million gallons of desalinated water per day to serve approximately one-third of DHA. This is the first plant of its kind in Pakistan and produces both Power and desalinated drinking water from seawater.
