Beijing to build $1.5b power line in Pakistan
The power line will enable transmission of 4,000 megawatts of electricity from the country's north to south
ISLAMABAD:
China's State Grid Corporation is set to build a $1.5 billion power line across Pakistan to enable the transmission of 4,000 megawatts of electricity from the country's north to south, the government said on Friday.
Water and Power Secretary Mohammad Younus Dagha and SGC Chairman Shu Yinbiao signed an investment agreement in Beijing on Thursday to build the country's first high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) line, according to a government statement.
The signing ceremony was held in the State Guest House in Beijing and witnessed by Pakistan’s federal ministers, the chief ministers of Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, and senior Chinese officials, the statement added.
The power transmission line would link the national grid between Matiari and, covering some 1,000 kilometres.
Construction will begin in January, and should take about 20 months, said a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office.
Pakistan has been struggling to provide enough power to its nearly 200 million citizens for years, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has vowed to solve the crisis by 2018. The government has managed to reduce load-shedding in some areas, but production gaps and distribution woes remain.
The energy sector has traditionally struggled to cover the cost of producing electricity, leading the government to divert $2 billion annually as a subsidy, according to a recent report commissioned by the British government.
The project is the latest in a series of big Chinese investments, most of which fall under a planned $55 billion worth of projects for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The corridor is a combination of infrastructure, power and transport projects that link China’s far-western Xinjiang region to Gwadar port
Premier Nawaz inaugurated Pakistan's fourth nuclear power plant on Wednesday, a joint collaboration with China that adds 340 megawatts to the national grid as part of the government's efforts to end a growth-sapping energy deficit.
Last week Pakistan's main bourse announced that a Chinese consortium was set to acquire a 40 per cent stake in the stock exchange in a deal estimated at $84 million.
Shanghai Electric announced in August it would buy a majority stake in the utility that supplies energy to Karachi for $1.7 billion, in the country's biggest ever private-sector acquisition.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2016.
China's State Grid Corporation is set to build a $1.5 billion power line across Pakistan to enable the transmission of 4,000 megawatts of electricity from the country's north to south, the government said on Friday.
Water and Power Secretary Mohammad Younus Dagha and SGC Chairman Shu Yinbiao signed an investment agreement in Beijing on Thursday to build the country's first high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) line, according to a government statement.
The signing ceremony was held in the State Guest House in Beijing and witnessed by Pakistan’s federal ministers, the chief ministers of Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, and senior Chinese officials, the statement added.
The power transmission line would link the national grid between Matiari and, covering some 1,000 kilometres.
Construction will begin in January, and should take about 20 months, said a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office.
Pakistan has been struggling to provide enough power to its nearly 200 million citizens for years, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has vowed to solve the crisis by 2018. The government has managed to reduce load-shedding in some areas, but production gaps and distribution woes remain.
The energy sector has traditionally struggled to cover the cost of producing electricity, leading the government to divert $2 billion annually as a subsidy, according to a recent report commissioned by the British government.
The project is the latest in a series of big Chinese investments, most of which fall under a planned $55 billion worth of projects for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The corridor is a combination of infrastructure, power and transport projects that link China’s far-western Xinjiang region to Gwadar port
Premier Nawaz inaugurated Pakistan's fourth nuclear power plant on Wednesday, a joint collaboration with China that adds 340 megawatts to the national grid as part of the government's efforts to end a growth-sapping energy deficit.
Last week Pakistan's main bourse announced that a Chinese consortium was set to acquire a 40 per cent stake in the stock exchange in a deal estimated at $84 million.
Shanghai Electric announced in August it would buy a majority stake in the utility that supplies energy to Karachi for $1.7 billion, in the country's biggest ever private-sector acquisition.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2016.