National Grid Pakistan energises the Rs1.8bn Jhimpir-II to Dhabeji 220kV link more than two years after it was first targeted, as the CPEC zone in Thatta waits for its first factories
LAHORE: National Grid Pakistan has energised a 220kV transmission line from its Jhimpir-II grid station to Dhabeji, giving the Dhabeji Special Economic Zone in Thatta district a connection to the national grid and opening a new outlet for wind power from Sindh’s Jhimpir corridor that has often been curtailed for lack of transmission capacity.
The line was energised on Oct. 23 and cost Rs1,806.9 million, about Rs1.8 billion, the company said in a statement on Monday, according to APP and DNA News Agency.
“Dependable power keeps factories running, businesses investing and families earning,” the company said. Managing Director Engineer Altaf Hussain Malik praised the project team and called the line an important step towards strengthening the power infrastructure serving the zone and its long-term industrial development.
A zone built for export industry
The Dhabeji zone, about 35km from Karachi airport and linked by an 8km access road to Port Qasim, is one of the special economic zones planned under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. It covers 1,530 acres in two phases of 750 and 780 acres, according to the planning ministry.
The Sindh government signed the concession agreement in February 2022, and ground was broken in July 2023. Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said in April 2025 that the zone could attract $3 billion of investment and create more than 100,000 jobs, and the province has since courted investors from China and, this year, Uzbekistan. Pakistan’s ambassador to China said in January 2025 that the zone would be completed by May that year; the CPEC secretariat still lists it as under construction.
Reliable power is the first thing industrial investors look for, and the federal government has said it wants Dhabeji to become a hub of industrial activity. The company said the line was expected to support new and expanding industrial units, strengthen supply chains and create jobs, particularly for young people in Sindh who would no longer have to leave their home districts for work.
A link that also helps wind power
The new line’s value goes beyond the zone. Jhimpir hosts most of Pakistan’s wind farms, and their output has frequently been curtailed because the grid cannot carry it, with wind producers telling the government in early 2024 that curtailment had risen “exponentially since 2022”, reports said.
At a meeting in January 2024, the then National Transmission and Despatch Company agreed to speed up the 220kV line from Jhimpir-II to the Dhabeji grid station being built by K-Electric, with a June 2024 target, and the Private Power and Infrastructure Board said the link would help reduce wind curtailment. Monday’s announcement means it was completed more than two years after that target.
Curtailed wind power is costly twice over: consumers pay producers for energy the grid could not take under capacity contracts, while costlier fuel-based plants run instead. Linking Jhimpir’s surplus towards Karachi-area demand through Dhabeji is one of several fixes planners have identified, alongside larger 500kV lines and battery storage.
A grid racing to catch up
The project fits a wider effort by National Grid Pakistan, the transmission company carved out of the former NTDC, to clear bottlenecks that the regulator says leave cheaper electricity stranded. The power regulator NEPRA found last year that overloaded grid stations at Jamshoro and Matiari, also in Sindh, restricted flows to about 1,800MW against 4,500MW available.
Malik met French Ambassador Jean-Noël Poirier last week, when French companies signalled interest in investing in Pakistan’s transmission network and the company briefed the delegation on plans to fast-track battery storage.
Provinces are also competing for industrial investment. Punjab has launched a three-year PIVOT plan that promises cheaper industrial land and power support, and Chinese firm PowerChina has shown interest in energy projects in Punjab’s special economic zones. For Dhabeji, with Port Qasim on its doorstep, a working grid connection removes one of the main obstacles to signing up tenants.
The company did not say how much power the line can carry, when supply to industrial units in the zone will begin, or how electricity will be distributed within it. Nor has the Sindh government said how many investors have taken plots or begun construction.
“National Grid Pakistan remains committed to a transmission network that powers every region,” the company said. For Dhabeji, the next measure of that commitment will be the first factory to switch on.
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