Port Qasim power project to be ready by 2018

islamabad — The 1320MW Port Qasim Electric Company Coal Fired project would start its commercial operation in June 2018 at an estimated cost of $1.98 billion, sources in the Ministry of Planning said.

The sources said that 65 per cent work on the project which is being implemented under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been completed.

Giving details about the CPEC projects in the provincial capitals of the country, the sources said that the Lahore Orange Line Metro Mass Transit Project was scheduled to be completed by March 2018 at a cost of $1.6 billion.

During a meeting of the sixth Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) held on December 29, 2016, in Beijing, China agreed in principle on the inclusion of rail-based mass transit systems in provincial headquarters as part of CPEC, including the Greater Peshawar Region Mass Transit System.

A joint working group on transport infrastructure has been asked to complete necessary formalities.

The Karachi Circular Railway and Quetta Mass Transit System projects had also been approved in the sixth JCC meeting and the provincial governments have been asked to complete their homework on this project.

The cost of these projects is to be determined later.

The feasibility report and other necessary work for the development of an industrial park on Pakistan Steel Mill’s land at Port Qasim was under way.

The sixth JCC meeting referred this site, proposed by the federal government, for development of an industrial park to the joint working group on industrial cooperation.

The sixth JCC meeting also referred to the inclusion of the Quetta Water Supply Scheme under the CPEC portfolio.

The JCC meeting had instructed the respective joint working groups to complete their proposals on the implementation of the project on the basis of further studies and consultations. Provincial governments are the coordination authority for these projects, the sources in the planning ministry added. — APP