In 1913, the
British government in India formed a public utility as Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to meet the electricity needs for then-a small port city, called
Karachi, today one of the largest cities of the world. In 1931, American and Foreign Power Company acquired the United Eastern Agencies Limited which at the time owned KESC. In 1952, the
Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin's
administration nationalized the KESC by awarding the contract to
Pakistan Electric Power Company to act as managing and operating contractor to facilitate the public funding in response of the rapid increase in energy demands following a surge in the population of Karachi. In 1958, KESC received a US$14 million loan from the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to expand its operations in Karachi. In 1999, the
Sharif administration handed over the contract to
Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering of
Pakistan Army to address the
electricity theft issues. During 2002-03, KESC was renamed as Karachi Electric Supply Corporation Limited with a major restructuring undertaken by
Aziz administration, which included swapping
₨. 83 billion worth of debt for equity. Subsequently, other consortium members divested their investment in KE through open market and KES Power became the single largest shareholder of KE. At present, KES Power has 66.40% shareholding in KE while KES Power which is now a joint venture of Saudi Arabian-based Al-Jomaih Power, National Industries Group of Kuwait, (27.7%), United States-based Denham Investment (18.5%) and UAE-based IGCF SPV 21 (53.8%). The federal Government of Pakistan is listed as a minority shareholder with 24.36% holding in the company == See also ==