LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has inaugurated the combined cycle of 1180 MW Bhikki Power Plant in Mandi Bahauddin.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N President took to Twitter to term the completion of the project as a “milestone” before he headed to Bhikki to inaugurate the power plant.

“Reaching Bhikki power plant shortly IA. Proj achieved a milestone as it has attained its combined cycle of 1180MW in just 32 months. 

Since the launch of its phase 1 in March’17, Bhikki has contributed a total of 3.1 billion units of affordable electricity to national grid so far!” stated his tweet on Saturday.

During his speech at the inaugural ceremony, Sharif stated: "Projects including Bhikki Power plant and Haveli Bahadur Shah were initiated in 2016. And today, Bhikki has been completed whereas Bahadur Shah plant is almost complete."

Speaking upon the searing issue of loadshedding in the country, the chief minister claimed: "After working tirelessly, there is no loadshedding during Ramazan this year. 10,000 MW electricity has been added to the national grid under the PML-N government."

Acclaimed to be the latest, the most contemporary and vastly developed gas machinery in Pakistan, the 1180MW Bhikki Project is based on general electric 209HA combined cycle technology and has a gross capacity of 1180 Megawatts.

As per reports, the total cost of the project is 770 million USD. The power plant is also said to have the lowest power generation cost, saving in EPC cost Rupees 39 billion.