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By APD Writer Muhammad Sohail
**ISLAMABAD, July 3 (APD) - **Second unit of the 1,320megawatt Sahiwal Coal-Fired Power Project, first mega project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, has been inaugurated on Monday after it was completed in a record short time in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab.
Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Punjab, accompanied by Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan Sun Weidong and other Chinese and Pakistani high officials unveiled the plaque of the second unit in Punjab’s central district of Sahiwal.
The 1,320megawatt Sahiwal Coal-Fired Power Project to be run with imported coal comprises two plants with capacity of 660MW each.
Its first unit was inaugurated by the country’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on May 25, and both units have already been providing electricity to Pakistan’s national grid.
The project, which is one of the early harvest projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), was started in July 2015 has been completed in a record period of 22 months, six months ahead of the prescribed schedule.
On the occasion, Chief Minister Shahbaz said project is a masterpiece of hard work, sincerity and unusual commitment that people of Pakistan have never witnessed before.
Executed by Huaneng Shandong Ruyi Pakistan Energy Private Limited, the project has been built with the latest state of the art environment friendly supercritical technology.
Huaneng Shandong with 51 percent shares and Shandong Ruyi Science & Technology Group with 49 percent shares funded and constructed the project of worth 1.8 billion U.S. dollars on build, operate and transfer basis in which the plant's ownership will be transferred to Pakistan after 30 years of operation.
The energy stricken Pakistani government will purchase electricity from the consortium at a tariff of 8.3601 U.S. Cents/kWh. Around 200 Pakistani young engineers who were trained in China have already been employed at the plant, which is planned to be extended to 3,320MW in future.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
