Building the power station

Kot Addu’s industrial history includes a power station developed by WAPDA in five phases between 1985 and 1996. KAPCO’s company account dates its incorporation to April 1996, with the purpose of acquiring that plant. A building programme and the formation of its later corporate operator were therefore distinct events, even though their timelines overlap.[1]

The company’s account also records a public share offer in February 2005 and stock-exchange listing on 18 April that year. This traces changes in the institution owning and operating the station. It does not imply that the whole town’s economy or all employment can be reduced to one power company.[1]

Privatisation was a negotiated process

The World Bank’s 1997 performance audit gives the transfer a more complicated chronology. Its Kot Addu annex dates preparation to 1994, a suspension during a WAPDA union boycott in January 1995, and resumption after an agreement in August. Labour negotiation forms part of this industrial history alongside engineering and investment.[2]

The audit records National Power’s successful bid in March 1996 and the plant’s handover in June. It also discusses changing fuels and the gradual addition of combined-cycle equipment, which used gas-turbine exhaust to support steam generation. These are findings about the plant’s development at that time. The report’s project ratings do not measure every later environmental or economic consequence for neighbouring residents.[2]

A different regulatory record in 2025

NEPRA’s April 2025 determination considered an application concerning a reduced part of the original generation facility. The accompanying concurrence specifies 550 megawatts and identifies selected gas and steam turbines, with commissioning years ranging from 1987 to 1996. That dated regulatory configuration should not be confused with every unit ever installed at Kot Addu.[3]

The authority approved a concurrence tied to the power-purchase agreement, while an attached member’s note dissented over payment arrangements. The document records a decision and disagreement within the regulator. Its schedule also describes connections at 132 and 220 kilovolts, linking the plant with feeders serving Kot Addu, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan and Layyah.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Kot Addu Power Company Limited. About Us ↗primary company chronology · Source date: not established; page says last updated 29 October 2026 · Locator: About Us: WAPDA construction phases, incorporation, public offering and listing. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual page body retrieved directly and inspected after browser timeouts. Phase dates and corporate milestones are company claims, not a complete town economic history.Return to Building the power station, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Building the power station, paragraph 2 ↑
  2. World Bank Operations Evaluation Department; Alain Barbu and Rene Ribi. Performance Audit Report: Fourth and Fifth WAPDA, Kot Addu Combined Cycle, and Power Plant Efficiency Improvement Projects, Report 16647 ↗primary project performance evaluation · Source date: 1997-05-28 · Locator: Annex E, printed pp. 55–57 / PDF pp. 59–61; results paragraph 2.6 on combined cycle; title/preface. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual full PDF retrieved; named annex and explanatory results read. Phases, trade-union negotiation, bidding and handover are distinguished. Its 1990s conclusions are not a present condition or health assessment.Return to Privatisation was a negotiated process, paragraph 1 ↑Return to Privatisation was a negotiated process, paragraph 2 ↑
  3. National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, Pakistan. Determination and Generation Concurrence for Kot Addu Power Company Limited, LAG-18 / IGSP/C/01/2025 ↗primary regulatory determination with dissent and schedules · Source date: 2025-04-18 · Locator: Determination sectionF(iii), PDFp.13; dissent PDFpp.14–15; concurrence and ScheduleI configuration, PDFpp.16,30–31; location PDFp.24. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual 34-page PDF body and schedules inspected. The 550 MW concurrence is differentiated from original 1600 MW capacity and from commercial operation. Dissent remains visible. UTM 42R coordinate appears without explicit datum, so no lat/lon conversion or atlas point is guessed; stakeholder allegations are not adopted as findings.Return to A different regulatory record in 2025, paragraph 1 ↑Return to A different regulatory record in 2025, paragraph 2 ↑
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Record PH-PLA-0063 · English edition · human review not performed