KE to spend Rs. 26 billion to upgrade Karachi’s infrastructure and stop loadshedding (hopefully)

K-Electric (KE) has allocated an amount of Rs. 26 billion to upgrade the infrastructure of Karachi to reduce the number of disruptions in the city especially due to the rain. The amount has been approved by the directors of the company.

Sources say that an amount of Rs. 9.5 billion will be spent on rain mitigation measures which will be done in multiple phases over the next few years. Rs. 1.5 billion alone will be spent in 2021 for this purpose. The company has said that it has already commenced the renovation work in some areas to provide reliable and safe electricity to the city of Karachi and its surrounding areas.

KE said in a statement, “K-Electric is pursuing an aggressive distribution investment plan. These measures include raising the foundation of distribution infrastructure, waterproofing of highlighted substations and replacement of equipment and cables and increasing the capacity to augment the dewatering efforts made by civic agencies particularly in areas prone to waterlogging.”

KE also has an investment plan worth $2 billion which will be spent to upgrade Karachi’s energy value chain over the next 3 years. It also includes the establishment of a 900MW RLNG-fired power plant and downstream transmission and distribution upgrades.