Govt to shelve major CPEC power project

A Pak delegation at the 8th JCC meeting held last month proposed to remove the Rahim Yar Khan imported fuel power plant (1,320mw) from the CPEC list

A Pakistani official

islamabad — The PTI-led government will shelve a major coalbased power plant project under the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, citing sufficient generation capacity already lined up for the next few years.

The previous PML-N government had pushed for the construction of the 1,320mw Rahim Yar Khan power project by China under CPEC.

However, the PTI government officially conveyed to Beijing that it was no longer interested in the project in view of sufficient generation capacity already lined up for the next few years, newspaper reported.

It has requested the Chinese friends to formally delete the project from the CPEC list, the report said.

During the 8th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting held last month, a Pakistani delegation led by Minister for Planning and Development Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar “proposed to remove the Rahim Yar Khan imported fuel power plant (1,320mw) from the CPEC list, in order to provide structure optimisation space for the subsequent power market of Pakistan”, said an official, quoting minutes of the December 20 JCC meeting.

The Chinese side suggested that a joint study on optimisation of energy mix be carried out at the earliest. ——