By Ijaz Kakakhel

The cost of Peshawar Electric Supply Company’s World Bank-funded Electricity Distribution Efficiency Improvement Project has been revised to Rs30.256 billion.

According to the latest project brief, a copy of which is available with Wealth Pakistan, the revised project cost stands at $108.06 million (Rs30,255.84 million) and is currently awaiting approval from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC). The project was originally approved at $73.44 million, or Rs11,750.88 million, in December 2021.

The project, being implemented by PESCO with World Bank financing, has achieved 21% physical progress and 22.19% financial progress. Actual expenditure to date stands at Rs2,606.963 million.

Its original completion date was December 2025, while the revised completion date is December 2027.

The project aims to improve electricity supply and operational efficiency in targeted areas of PESCO and strengthen its capacity to implement reforms. Its scope covers improving grid reliability, modernising distribution operations and management, and capacity building and technical assistance.

The project brief attributes the delay to multi-stage review and no-objection procedures required under the World Bank’s procurement framework.

Under Component-I, procurement of power transformers for augmentation and extension is under way. The tender was opened on May 12, 2026, and evaluation of technical bids is in progress.

Under Component-II, several distribution-system interventions are at different stages of procurement.

For the planned installation of 20,723 APMs/ITMs at 11kV feeders in PESCO, bidding documents were prepared in accordance with PPMC technical specifications and resubmitted to the World Bank on July 22, 2026, for review and issuance of a no-objection letter prior to publication.

PESCO is upgrading its GIS infrastructure to ArcGIS Enterprise. Bidding documents incorporating World Bank comments were received from the project implementation and management support consultant on July 24, 2026, and resubmitted to the World Bank the same day for review and no-objection.

Another intervention involves the installation of 55,250 Advanced Metering Infrastructure meters for 5-20kW consumers. Following the World Bank’s no-objection to the technical evaluation report, financial bids were opened on May 20, 2026, and the evaluation report was submitted to the bank for review and no-objection.

The project also envisages the installation of aerial bundled cable on 60 feeders covering 1,298 kilometres in the Peshawar and Khyber circles. The bidding document was submitted to the World Bank on May 26, 2026, and, after necessary revisions, resubmitted on July 9 for review and no-objection.

For 2026-27, the project has been allocated Rs2,418.051 million, while first-quarter releases stand at Rs336.644 million. Expenditure for 2026-27 was recorded as nil in the project brief.

Credit: INP-WealthPk