KARACHI: The Atlas Powergen, a group company of the Atlas Group, has been awarded $220m 220MW Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG)-based power project as part of the government’s fast track effort to bring more power into the system based on clean energy. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has officially declared Atlas Powergen as the winner of the bid while the Petroleum Ministry has provided Atlas Powergen with a firm gas supply commitment to proceed with the project. In a ceremony to mark the award of the (Engineering Procurement and Construction) EPC contract and the Notice To Proceed (NTP), the Atlas Powergen signed two agreements with SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation, a renowned Chinese engineering firm, and Siemens, a global engineering powerhouse, will supply and install its state-of-the-art gas and steam turbine as the core components of the project. To mark the occasion, SEPCOIII Chairman Wang Lujun personally flew in from China. Saquib Shirazi and Helmut Von Struve participated on behalf of the Atlas Group and Siemens, respectively. Speaking at the ceremony, the SEPCOIII chairman remarked, “The Atlas project is a prestigious project for us as it marks the first new private sector LNG based IPP, which will not only add power to the national grid but also strengthen the growing Pak-China friendship. SEPCOIII is proud to have been selected. Its commitment to Pakistan can be gauged by its work underway at both the 1,230MW Havali Bahadar LNG based and the 1,320MW Port Bin Qasim coal fired power projects.” Commenting on occasion, Von Struve, “Siemens is proud to be associated with Atlas Powergen. We are optimistic that this joint Pak-German-China partnership would set new benchmarks in terms of cross border cooperation, optimum efficiency and project completion within the Siemens proven Fast Track Mode to meet the government’s tight deadlines.” The Ministry of Water and Power envisages the LNG based projects as a good compliment to the long term solution of indigenously produced hydel and coal projects. Atlas Powergen project is expected to deliver 150MW of electricity from open cycle operations by April 2017 and 220MW by early 2018. The challenging timelines have been agreed with SEPCOIII and Siemens. The initial financing arrangements have been put in place while the work at the site has already started.