By Shakeel Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: The chairman of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Asim Saleem Bajwa on Monday said that the Chinese multinational power generation company, Shanghai Electric, has expedited the pace of work on mining and 1,320 MW power plant at Thar Block-1 despite COVID-19 pandemic.
Asim Saleem Bajwa said in his Twitter message that the development work on mining has been completed by 20 per cent and 15 per cent on the power plant project. The Chinese power company had started mining in Thar Block-1 in October last year to develop mine and construction of coal-fired 1,320 coal-fired power plant.
It emerged that Shanghai Electric and National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) had also requested the Sindh government to allocate 100 acres of land at Jhimpir for the construction of a grid station to evacuate power generated from the wind corridor.
Moreover, the displaced families due to development projects will be shifted to a modern colony to be built by the Chinese company in Thar.
Earlier on Sunday, the CPEC Authority chairman had elaborated the plan of the federal government regarding the ongoing projects in Balochistan.
He had said that the government is currently focused on building roads in South Balochistan for better connectivity and socio-economic development.
In a tweet, he had said Hoshab-Awaran-Khuzdar and Awaran-Bela are in focus to transform this region.
Earlier, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information, Broadcasting, and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Chairman Lieutenant General (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa on Wednesday said that special economic zones (SEZ), roads, motorways, and energy projects would change the fate of Pakistan. The prime minister has given special directives to speed up the projects falling under CPEC, he stated while talking to a private news channel.
The work on special economic zones being carried out in Faisalabad, Karachi, Rashakai area was in progress, he stated. Chinese companies are taking keen interest in corporate farming of Pakistan, he added. He said that priority was given to generate cheap electricity for Pakistan, and for this purpose, domestic coal would be utilised to achieve the objective. Lt Gen (r) Bajwa said that water reservoirs, dams and other hydel projects, including Diamer-Bhasha, would benefit the agriculture sector.
