The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) now has $21 billion more in Chinese investment thanks to the revival of a coal-based power plant in Gwadar.
A Power Division official informed a national daily, “Now we have revived the 300 MW project on imported coal, which will be operational by December 2025.
An official from the administration admitted that the government had almost given up on building the Gwadar power plant before suggesting to the Chinese leadership that the power plant switch to Thar coal. The repair of the 300 MW power plant using imported fuel was demanded by the Chinese authorities, who insisted on it.
He added that the 300 MW imported coal project has been restored and will be operational by December 2025. “It termed the initiative the most strategic project, as the Gwadar port’s operation cannot be made dependent on any weak project, whose fuel transposition may be vulnerable given the law and order situation in the province and imported electricity from Iran as well,” he said.
Eight projects totaling $11.337 billion have already been put into operation and are supplying 7,320 MW of power to the national grid through CPEC. In addition, the $1.658 billion huge Matiari-Lahore HVDC transmission line project was finished to transfer 4,000 MW from Sindh to Lahore in order to meet the demands of the Punjab load centre.
To produce 4,328 MW of power, five $6 billion projects are now under development. The indicative generation capacity expansion plan (IGCEP) 2022–31’s Thar coal electricity project has an undetermined cost. The CPEC power sector lineup, however, is valued at about $21 billion when the project’s estimated cost is taken into account.
