PAKISTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Nadir Altaf and Muhammad Fahim Khan, RIAA Barker Gillette
NEPRA Laws Pursuant to the NEPRA Act, no person can con- struct or operate transmission facilities unless they have a licence to do so from NEPRA. In order to obtain a licence, they must meet the criteria stipulated in the Eligibility Rules. Once they hold a licence, they must construct the transmission facilities according to the approved parameters. Grid Code 2023 The Grid Code is a regulatory code formulated by the NTDC and approved by NEPRA. All dis- tribution and transmission companies (includ- ing the NTDC) are required to comply with the Grid Code in the development and operation of their facilities. The Grid Code has recently been updated to include provisions pertaining specifi- cally to the CTBCM. 4.2 Obtaining Approvals to Construct and Operate Transmission Lines and Associated Facilities The following are the key consents required for the construction and operation of transmission facilities: • letter of intent – issued after successful appli- cation to the relevant facilitative body (only required if the project is being developed pursuant to a government policy); • transmission licence – issued after successful application to NEPRA under the NEPRA Act; • transmission tariff – issued after successful application to NEPRA under the NEPRA Act and the Tariff Rules; • letter of support – issued after the successful completion of milestones under the letter of intent (approval only required if the project is being developed pursuant to a government policy); • project agreements, including:
(a) transmission service agreement (TSA) – entered into with the NTDC or the genera- tion company, depending on the nature of the project; and (b) land rights – land rights may be acquired by the government under the Acquisition Act or in the form of leases/rights of way; • grid interconnection study approval – issued by the NTDC after review of study; • environmental approvals – issued after successful application to the relevant envi- ronmental protection agency, following an Environmental Impact Assessment; and • other project-specific approvals. The policy currently in vogue for the develop- ment and operation of transmission facilities is the Transmission Policy (see 1.7 Announce- ments Regarding New Policies ). Only one transmission facility has been developed under this policy so far – namely, the Matiari-Lahore 600 kV high-voltage direct current transmis- sion line developed by the Pak Matiari-Lahore Transmission Company (Private) Limited. The line is intended to transmit the electric power generated by the local coal-based power pro- jects being developed in the southern parts of Pakistan towards the central and northern parts of the country. 4.3 Terms and Conditions Imposed on Approvals to Construct and Operate a Transmission Line and Associated Facilities The majority of the terms and conditions for the operation of transmission facilities are set out in the respective licence of each transmis- sion licensee. The typical terms and conditions include: • term and renewal of the licence; • licence fee payments;
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