HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Sunday that if the federal government had not used `negative tactics` the Rs13 billion power plant in Nooriabad launched in Aug 2014 would have been completed two years ago.

Not only this, but the Sindh government would also have launched at least four similar projects to benefit people, he said.

The chief minister was talking to journalists after visiting the under-constructionpower plant in Nooriabad.

He said that Sindh was the only province where the PPP government had promoted public-private partnership and utilised its own resources to launch the power plant which would start production in the first week of April.

He said that after completion the power plant would directly benefit Karachi. The Sindh government had completed all formalities and paid millions of rupees to the federal government for more power plants but it had not been issued the requisite permission so far, he said.

If the centre had not created impedi-ments the provincial government would have been able to provide electricity to the Kotri and Nooriabad SITE areas at cheap rates, said Mr Shah.

He said that the Nooriabad power plant project was launched in Aug 2014 under public-private partnership at a cost of Rs13 billion in which the Sindh government held 49 per cent shares and a private company owned 51 per cent. The government would spend Rs2 billion more for laying transmission line to connect power to the electric system, he said.

He said that by raising hurdles in the way of launch of the power plant, the NationalElectric Power Regulatory Authority and the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company had harmed people`s interests. But the Sindh government was committed to completing it, he added.

The private company`s director, Khurshid Jamali, briefed the chief minister that the plant would use gas to produce 100MW electricity at less than Rs10 per unit as compared to Rs15 charged by the Water and Power Development Authority.

The Sindh Transmission and Dispatch Centre had already laid 95-kilometre-long 132ky lines, he said.