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Project Name Pakistan - Uch Power Limited

Region Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa

Sector Power

Project No 004962

Projected Board Date June 26, 1995

Company Name Uch Power Limited (UPL)

Technical Partner and/
or Major Shareholders Central Power (Holdings) Limited (UK) - 37%, Tenaska Incorporated (USA) - 23% and GE Capital Uch Power Holdings, L.P. - 18%

Project Cost including
proposed IFC investment US$587 million (estimated) of which IFC will provide an equity investment of US$9.4 million for 8% of the common stock of UPL, an A Loan of US$40 million and a B loan of US$60 million.

Location of project and
Description of site The project is located in the flat plain area of the Nasirabad district near Dera Murad Jamali, Pakistan.  The site is in an isolated semi-arid environment.

Description of Company and Purpose of Project

Shortage of electrical energy is a major constraint on Pakistan''s economy.  Load shedding is commonplace and is now at 15% of peak demand. According to World Bank estimates, the cost to the economy of load shedding is nearly US$1 billion per year.  Addressing the power shortage problem has become one of Pakistan''s highest priorities.  To this end the Government of Pakistan has introduced a Power Policy Guideline (March 1994) to increase the participation of independent power producers on its system.  The Uch power project will be one of the first to participate under these new guidelines.

The project is to build, own and operate a power plant fueled by indigenous natural gas with a nominal capacity of 586 MW.  The power plant will be located at Dera Murad Jamali in the Balochistan Province of Pakistan.  The technology used in the project is combined-cycle electric generation and the turnkey contractor is General Electric Company (USA) and Harbin Engineering (China).

Environmental Categories and Issues

This is a Category A project according to IFC''s environmental review procedure.  The Sponsors have prepared an environmental assessment (EA) for the project.  Environmental issues associated with this project include site considerations, liquid effluents, air quality, water supply, socio-economic impacts and worker safety.

The EA indicates that the selected site has a number of environmental advantages over other sites which were considered.  Liquid effluent and air quality will comply with WB guidelines and ample water supply is available for the project.  The socio-economic impacts are mainly positive and worker safety will be in compliance with WB guidelines.

The Environmental Assessment and EA Executive Summary are available at the Public Information Center.

Date SPI sent to PIC June 1, 1995

For additional Information contact:  Corporate Relations Unit - telephone (202) 473-7711 - facsimile: (202) 676-0365.
Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).