The PDB said it was not clear what the newspaper meant by "faulty power plant" because the plant has one emergency diesel generator in good condition at Haripur power station.

Provision was kept for a new diesel generating set for starting gas booster compressor for grid failure time to raise the gas pressure, the rejoinder said, adding that the PDB proposed dropping this generator considering several realistic factors.

"When there will be a grid failure, power plants near Haripur Power Plant will also trip, so gas pressure would be raised up and Gas Booster Compressor would not be needed to start up."

Therefore there will be no need for the emergency diesel generator, it said.

Besides, during blackouts in recent past, "black" startups were not possible because this kind of small plant cannot be launched under such a huge grid network, the rejoinder said.

The government plans to complete the plant's rehabilitation project within June 2008, it added.

Our reply: The three-unit 100MW Haripur plant went out of order three years ago and now it is undergoing a rehabilitation project. Had there been no fault with the plant now, it would have been running.

The necessity of the diesel generator is proven through the fact that the PDB floated its tender thrice, although there was no positive result.

The argument that in case of grid failure gas pressure will increase, and therefore the gas booster compressor can start up on its own is very weak. The gas pressure will be high during the grid failure, but it will go down as large plants will start to go online. Each plant should be independently equipped to operate on its own, experts say.

We stand by our report.