Pakistan?decided to shelve a plan to establish an imported coal-fired power plant at Gwadar under the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) following the high cost of imported fuel and its preference for local resources.
government sources?said?that they already had informed the sponsor of the project China Communications Construction Group (CCCG) regarding the decision. The plant had been planned to be established at a cost of $542 million.
In this regard, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has asked the concerned authorities to propose alternative options to be offered to the sponsor to compensate for the imported coal-based power plant, sources reported.
The authorities have been directed to immediately conduct feasibility studies to find alternative options as the decision marks a departure from the commitment that Pakistan gave to China in February this year.
Including 300-megawatt Gwadar power plant was the highest priority of the government to pay invoices after the commissioning of the project. In addition, Pakistan also agreed to include the long-awaited power plant in its highest priority schemes to pay electricity dues to address the biggest concern of China.
It is pertinent to mention that the Gwadar power project remained a part of the early harvest schemes that had to be accomplished during the first phase of CPEC (2015-18).
However, it faced long delays when the Chinese insurance company refused to provide guarantees for loans because of payment problems being faced by other Chinese power projects.
Moreover, Ahsan Iqbal discussed all the details during a pre-CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting held this week.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will hold the 11th JCC session before his upcoming visit to China, which is scheduled for the second week of November, sources said, adding, the government is looking forward to offering the Chinese company to either set up the power plant on solar resources or shift it to Thar.