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By APD writer Muhammad Sohail
SAHIWAL, Pakistan, May 25 (APD) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday inaugurated the 660megawatt unit of the first mega project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that has been completed in a record short time in the country’s eastern district of Sahiwal.
The PM accompanied by Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan Sun Weidong unveiled the plaque of the first unit of the 1320MW Sahiwal Coal-Fired Power Project, which comprised two plants with capacity of 660MW each.
The project, which is one of the early harvest projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), has already started supplying power to the country’s national grid.
Terming China’s Belt and Road initiative as a game changer for Pakistan as well as for the world, the PM thanked to Chinese workers, engineers and other officials for helping Pakistan implement 56 billion U.S. dollar CPEC project.
The second unit of the project will start production by next month, the officials said.
The project which was started in July 2015 has been completed in a record period of 22 months, six months ahead of the prescribed schedule.
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 Government of Pakistan 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 been employed at the plant, which is planned to be extended to 3320MW in future.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
