OBOR News & Developments

3deffect

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I don't know why these Porks atre getting orgasms on Chinese investment of $46 billion. Compare this to our own investment of $100 billion on the
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor!

Besides DMIC, the government plans the development of Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC), Bengaluru- Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC), Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and Chennai-Kolkata Industrial Corridor.

The investments on these corridors would amount to a whopping $400 billion!! That's far more than the entire GDP of Porkistan!!
Right but think ager bhikhari ke hath lakho ki lottry lag jaye toh woh kya krega..khushi ke maare chillayega..so thats porki doing..$46b mein se kitna corruption mein jayega woh toh porki ka Allah malik
 

Indx TechStyle

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Senior economist raises several questions regarding CPEC
PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: As both countries make steady progress on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Dr Kaiser Bengali, former advisor to Balochistan chief minister, has raised the issue of socio-economic implications of the mega investment project.
Dr Bengali, who till recently was heading Balochistan chief minister’s Policy Reform Unit, raised 12 questions that, according to him, require satisfactory answers in order to protect Pakistan’s economic interests.
The questions encompass socially and politically sensitive topics like protection of jobs, industries, implications of CPEC on Pakistan’s balance of payments, budgetary positions and benefits Balochistan, Pakistan’s most underdeveloped province, would get out of the $55 billion umbrella deal.
In 2013, the Chinese president made the concept of CPEC public for the first time and subsequently both the countries signed CPEC Framework agreement – which now covers projects worth $55 billion, in addition to allied benefits like construction of industrial zones. Last month, the federal government managed to address most of the concerns of the provincial governments after it made them part of development process.
The actual benefits from CPEC will depend on how the corridor is planned and executed, said Dr Bengali. “As an advisor to former CM Balochistan, I would often get questions that did not have answers,” he added.
Was an assessment conducted?
Dr Bengali has asked whether Pakistan prepared an overall CPEC feasibility before formally signing the sovereign agreement with China. He also wants an answer to the question whether CPEC Environment Impact Assessment was carried out or not.
Dr Bengali said that according to his information Pakistan did not conduct feasibility and environment impact studies, although China has conducted its own. However, officials of the Ministry of Planning said that project specific feasibility and environment studies were done.
The issue of environment has also been raised by the Giglit-Baltistan region, the gateway of CPEC, as its environment may get affected due to transit traffic that will pass through its scenic mountainous roads.
Dr Bengali has put forward questions on the shares of Pakistan and Balochistan in Gwadar port revenues. Dr Bengali is currently member National Finance Commission on behalf of Balochistan. He said that there was no clarity whether Gwadar-Khunjerab Highway will be a toll road and if so, what will be the provincial share in revenues generated by the National Highway Authority?
The planning ministry says revenue will be shared according to the existing arrangements between the centre and the federation.
Adverse impact of CPEC on local industries
One of the most important questions the economist has raised is about the positive and adverse impacts of Pakistan becoming a transit route of China on local industries. According to the existing arrangement, China is bringing goods, machinery and labour for the construction of CPEC projects. The hope that these construction activities would generate economic activities is fading away.
However, the planning ministry said that in the 6th Joint Cooperation Committee meeting both countries agreed to include nine industrial parks in the CPEC framework, which will promote manufacturing activities.
Tax exemptions offered to CPEC-related projects
Dr Bengali also raised the question about the quantum of tax exemptions to CPEC-related imports and its impacts on state revenues and the manufacturing sector. The government has already granted an income tax holiday status to Gwadar Port. It has also exempted all types of taxes on two big infrastructure projects of CPEC.
It has waived off dividend tax on the income of the Chinese financial institutions. Recently, it has waived off all types of taxes on construction and income generated by Chinese from the four mass train transit projects being built in four provincial capitals.
Rough estimates suggest, so far Rs150 billion worth tax exemptions have been given to CPEC-related projects, according to sources in the Federal Board of Revenue. These include Rs80 billion exemptions to four mass transit projects.
Dr Bengali has also asked that what will be the medium and long-term implications of the CPEC arrangement on the country’s balance of payment position and impact of foreign exchange inflows in shape of loans, foreign direct investment and outflows out flows in shape of debt repayment, profit and outward remittances.
Share of locals
So far, CPEC-related imports have adversely affected the country’s trade balance and the federal government is trying to find a way to book these loans as FDI.
According to him, another question is; what is the budgetary burden on Pakistan for protecting Chinese roads and sea convoys. This is a very critical point, as the federal government is demanding the four provinces to give away 3% of their divisible pool for security purposes.
Dr Bengali also asked about the jobs for locals in the security units, being raised for CPEC-related protection, recruited from districts through which the Gwadar-Khunjerab Highway passes. The planning ministry has said that many projects have been initiated in Gwadar to make the locals part of the development activity.
He also wants answers to the question regarding water provision plan for Gwadar and the plan to ensure that Gwadar does not become a Baloch minority city.
 

Butter Chicken

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I don't know why these Porks atre getting orgasms on Chinese investment of $46 billion. Compare this to our own investment of $100 billion on the
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor!

Besides DMIC, the government plans the development of Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC), Bengaluru- Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC), Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and Chennai-Kolkata Industrial Corridor.

The investments on these corridors would amount to a whopping $400 billion!! That's far more than the entire GDP of Porkistan!!
It is not investment.It is commercial loan with high interest rate
 

ezsasa

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On the point of olive branch extended by Chinese to us wrt CPEC, that we should Join CPEC..

does anyone remember if similar statements (not necessarily on CPEC) were issued during winter of last year also.

I am just checking whether such statements are issued only in winter so we don't attack pak or Karakoram pass in winters, because they know they won't be able to mobilise their troops to the pakis rescue during the winters.
 

IndianHawk

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On the point of olive branch extended by Chinese to us wrt CPEC, that we should Join CPEC..

does anyone remember if similar statements (not necessarily on CPEC) were issued during winter of last year also.

I am just checking whether such statements are issued only in winter so we don't attack pak or Karakoram pass in winters, because they know they won't be able to mobilise their troops to the pakis rescue during the winters.
Chinese are not going to rescue Pakis and risk a nuclear confrontation with India.
India also not going to annex POK anytime soon .
Everyone knows this . These statements are issued to show the inclusive friendly fake side of chin-pak duo.

Also leftist in India can use these statements to start aman ka tamasha.:blah:

That's all.
 

Indx TechStyle

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By the Dawn
Satire: Diary of CPEC


Illustration by Sabir Nazar
Dahlings…

I am the belle of the ball.

The minister of planning just announced that Finland offered four of its women in marriage and three baby brown bears to Pakistan in order to join me. Ahsan Iqbal, though, was unimpressed by the offer and asked for a dozen elk skins to be added to the bid if it was to be considered seriously. That’s good, for I will not go cheap.

India just has not been able to take my popularity. Once it was the coolest kid in school. Now, even its besties like Russia are drawn to me. India did her best to tell everyone I had the militant cooties and disinvited me from parties she hosted. But when the zeitgeist blows in your direction, you create your own rave.

With the overwhelming response to me so far, the government is considering allowing Bahria Town to auction further allotments to new members. You know you have made it in Pakistan when they treat you with the seriousness of a housing society. Modi claims some of the plots, but he has misplaced the file.

Nawaz Sharif’s plans of making a houbara bustard the foreign minister have been put on hold since I am improving Pakistan’s image abroad. He will, however, go ahead and give the bird the highest civilian medal of honour for the sacrifices it has made for this nation.

Pakistan is slowly facing a diplomatic crisis – though not the kind India hoped for – as it can no longer accommodate the sheer number of contenders to join this game changer, namely moi. With Iran and Russia already trying to force their way in, at the very least this threatens the existence of my catchy abbreviation. PRICEC just doesn’t convey the enormity of the project that CPEC does. M Bilal Hafeez confirmed that Denmark also wants to open a khokhaof naswaar and cigarettes at the entrance of CPEC, such is the desperation.

Not since Agha Waqar’s water-kit has the international community displayed such envy. Spies have been dispatched to get details on my specifics but they have returned home empty-handed since most Pakistanis don’t know the details because of the federal government’s secrecy. A Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz spokesperson clarified that there would be a Western and an Eastern Route, but no canals would be connecting them, saying, “We have nothing to do with any canals, and we would like to clarify that under this project, offshore companies are coming to Pakistan.”

Military sources confirm that the project will bring peace to Balochistan, or at least to pieces of Balochistan, or definitely to the soon to be announced DHA in Balochistan. I just hope it will be too late before the Baloch nationalists realise that their share is only the migrating Chinese. How I look forward to the fusion cuisine — the Gong Bao Sajji will be divine.

I am just soooo tired of people asking me how they will pay for me. Dahlings, I am a millennial. We don’t plan ahead, we just live in the moment. And what a moment this is. Negotiating with the Chinese can be tough; they didn’t like it when I said, “If it has to be one belt and one road, make it a Gucci and an autobahn.”

2016 was my fabulous year and 2017 is going to be a brilliant year, but I am just not looking forward to the inevitable request for DNA testing as Nawaz, Zardari and Raheel have all claimed parentage. I must take pains to point out, I belong to the nation.


Yours smoothly,

CPEC
 

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CPEC: lessons from history
The writer is a Fellow at the Centre for Development Policy Research in Lahore.
HOW does one get a grip on the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its associated investments without any hard information except for the hype? In the absence of any mechanism for credible evaluation I suggest we hold it up against a historical parallel and see what emerges by way of tentative conclusions. Some discussion grounded in real experience may be better than taking sides in the dark.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the British invested vast sums of money in the part of the subcontinent that now comprises Pakistan. Amongst these investments were the network of canals and barrages, the post and telegraph, and roads and railways. All included it would have likely added up in real terms to be bigger than the $56 billion associated with CPEC.
What came of all that investment and what economic transformations did it sustain? At the macro level, Pakistan remains a desperately poor country with around a third of its population struggling to survive below the poverty line. Almost half the population is functionally illiterate without access to safe water and sanitation or adequate healthcare. Stunting, malnutrition and infant and maternal mortality are at levels considered unacceptable in the rest of the world.
The sobering conclusion would be that even if the investments had huge economic payoffs, extremely venal governance ensured that while some people became phenomenally rich very few of the benefits trickled down to the majority in any meaningful sense.
What came of all the colonial-era investment and what economic transformations did it sustain?
Notwithstanding the issues of governance and distribution, which remain as critical now as then, the question remains: did the investments have huge economic payoffs? Even to speculate intelligently on the question one would need to disaggregate the investments and consider them separately.
Take the canal colonies and the barrages. I believe most people would accept that the outcomes were positive and significant. One can assess the outcomes in terms of crop outputs, crop yields, employment created, or incomes generated for farming households.
Next, consider the railways where the comparisons become more interesting. The link between Karachi and Peshawar via Hyderabad, Sukkur, Multan, Lahore, and Rawalpindi can be considered the central artery of the Pakistani economy capable of transporting people and products efficiently and economically. Once again, I believe there would be agreement that the outcomes were positive and the payoffs significant.
Now consider some other investments in the railways that turned out differently. Among these were the links between Peshawar and Landikotal on the Afghanistan border, the link between Quetta and Chaman that was intended to have been extended to Kandahar in Afghanistan, and the Trans-Balochistan railroad from Quetta to Zahedan, inside Iran.
All these could be considered as economic corridors of their time. Even if they were not intended as such, they could have become so after the independence of Pakistan. The Trans-Balochistan railroad extended 455 miles (732 kilometres) with 38 stops linking very friendly countries between which much trade was possible. Indeed, under the Regional Cooperation for Development there was the possibility of extending the link to Turkey and thereby into Europe, an opening with immense economic potential. Today, the Peshawar-Landikotal link is inoperative, and the Quetta-Zahedan link operates on a nominal frequency of twice a month. None of these corridors had any transformative impact on the local or national economies.
Take roads as another example. The British upgraded and extended the Grand Trunk Road, an ancient trade route linking populated habitations, to great and sustained benefit. Contrast the limited economic impact of the more recent Lahore-Peshawar motorway. The equally recent Karakoram and Thar-Karachi highways have had virtually no significant transformative impacts on the local economies except to make it easier for local labour to migrate to more prosperous areas for employment.
Some tentative conclusions can be adduced. For investments to yield economic benefits, it seems a necessary, if not a sufficient, condition for them to either generate employment or to connect populated locations at relatively comparable levels of economic development. The historical evidence suggests that routing corridors through sparsely populated territory even with associated investments that create very few jobs is unlikely to be transformative. And linking disproportionately developed areas without prior complementary investments may just accelerate a drain of people and resources from the less developed regions.
It is indeed possible that investments in roads in some sparsely populated areas, eg, in the northern areas or along the Makran coast, would pay off economically if as a result a significant inflow of people is facilitated as would be the case with a major boost to tourism. But such prospects are scarce given Pakistan’s security conditions and increasing social conservatism.
It will no doubt be argued that the unsuccessful rail corridors mentioned here were not made by the British for economic but for strategic military purposes and therefore comparisons with CPEC are invalid. However, as mentioned before, there was nothing to prevent the conversion of the readymade investments to economic purposes after 1947. There was significant trade potential both with Afghanistan and Iran and the latter was a very friendly country at the time. The shrivelling of the corridors should prompt serious questions inquiring what went wrong after all the investments were made.
At the same time it could be argued that CPEC is an equally strategic initiative of the Chinese presented as one with transformative economic payoff for Pakistan. The latter remains to be demonstrated independently and objectively. The historical evidence cautions that mere hand-waving is not enough.
One should also consider what might be the fate of CPEC if relations with China turn sour in the future. This may seem a far-fetched concern at this time but the evolution of the relationship with Iran should provide a reality check. Pakistan’s abysmal relations with all its primary neighbours do not leave much room for complacency and demand a credible fall-back alternative.
If the national objective is to further the development of the lagging provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it might be better to think in terms of employment-generating investments in the regional economies much as the canal colonies created jobs in the Punjab in the 20th century. It might make more sense for economic corridors to follow and not precede such investments.
 

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'No China, Go China' : Awakened Sindhudesh buzzing with Anti-CPEC protests



Karachi, January 22: After strong voices rising up against the unholy China Pakistan economic corridor from Balochistan and Gilgit baltistan, now the awakened people of "Sindhudesh" are pitching strongly against human rights violations by Pakistani forces to facilitate multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

With a new mantra "No China, Go China", whole Sindh is buzzed against Chinese persecution and Pakistan's assertion to that the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM), a Sindh-based nationalist party, has announced Sindh-wide strikes to protest against the CPEC.

The China Pakistan economic corridor passes through the Gilgit baltistan region, which is defacto a part of jammu and kashmir, the Balochistan region, which wants freedom from Pakistan and now the Sindh region in which the people are demanding for saparate 'Sindhudesh'.

The media reports and social media sorces are telling that Several anti-China protest are being taken conducted in the Sindh area in Pakistan against the human rights violations and the multi-billion dollar CPEC.

JSMM has led a massive rally-cum-march starting from the Indus Highway to the tomb of Saint GM Sayed, the 20th century Sindhi scholar and politician who started the Sindudesh movement.



Reports say that the protest saw some anti-CPEC, anti-extremist and religious terrorism banners and placards, which demanded the independence of Sindh. JSMM leaders and activists placed floral wreaths at the tomb of Sayed and the tombs of the martyrs of Sindhudesh movement and recited the national anthem of Sindhudesh as a salutation on the eve of 113th birthday of Late Sindhi leader.

The Chairman of JSMM, Shafi Burfat tweets: "The chinese military aggression ,expansion and political Nexus with Pakistan will accelerate islamic extremism & terrorism in world. the chinese military aggression ,expansion and political Nexus with Pakistan is dangerous for future of world peace."

“Sindh has always been an independent country and nation since ages”, Shafi said in a video message. He declared that the CPEC to be the death warrant for the cultural, economic, geographic existence of Sindhi and Baloch nations, calling it a “Punjabi conspiracy" to strengthen its imperialist expansionist hegemony over Sindh and Balochistan.

Follow
Shafi Burfat @shafiburfat

the chinese military aggression ,expansion and political Nexus with Pakistan is dangerous for future of world peace.

10:52 PM - 21 Jan 2017

Video and more in the link below:

http://www.newsbharati.com/Encyc/2017/1/22/Sindh-against-CPEC-Pak

It has started.........The breakup of Pakistan!
 

sthf

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From Radio Pakistan's official website yesterday about confirmation of deployment of forces for CPEC.


Deleted now.

Can't understand what's been cooking!
 

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Parco to set up $5 bn deep conversion coastal refinery Hub, Balochistan
  1. ISLAMABAD: The Pak-Arab Refinery Company (Parco) has made up its mind to establish a state-of-the-art deep conversion coastal refinery with capacity to refine crude oil up to 300,000 barrels per day at the Khalifa Point near Hub in Balochistan.

    To this effect, the board of directors of the company has approved initiation of a feasibility study. “Once the feasibility study gets completed, then the top management of the company will proceed accordingly. This would be the first-ever largest project in the history of oil and gas sector as its magnitude will be equal to the Tarbela Sam,” top officials told The News.

    “The project requires $5 billion investment and to this effect the UAE has allocated the funds.” Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi confirmed the development saying that the Parco BoD had at present given a nod for initiating the feasibility for establishing the biggest coastal refinery with hydrocracker technology.

    Upon completion of the study, Parco will take a final decision to go for a mega refinery or not. The refinery will have the capacity to refine 250,000 to 300,000 barrels per day crude oil. Top sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said the refinery will be established at Hub and the land at Gaddani that was earlier given for establishing the 6,600MW coal-based power park had been retrieved for the mega refinery and to this effect a wall had been erected showing the demarcation of the land for the proposed refinery.

    With shareholding of Government of Pakistan at 60 percent and the UAE 40 percent, Parco will set up the refinery. Keeping in view the country’s increasing POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) requirements, particularly in the wake of the impending surge in the demand on account of CPEC project, the said refinery will have significance of paramount importance.

    The officials also disclosed that Parco, which is not a deep conversion refinery, is also being expanded by its top management to increase its refining capacity by 25,000 barrels per day to 125,000 BPD from 100,000 BPD. Pakistan currently imports 80 percent of petroleum products as the existing refineries in the country have become obsolete, which run 40-45 percent of their production capacity.

    “Now the time has come to close down the existing refineries and initiate the project for setting up new state-of-the-art refineries in the country.” They said in recent interaction of the petroleum minister with representatives of OCAC (Oil Companies Advisory Council), the government had asked them to come up with a plan to install a mid-country mega refinery with modern technology after abandoning the existing ones and to this effect the government will not only provide the land but also play its role in laying down a pipeline for provision of crude oil to the refinery.

    The government did not stop here; rather it also extended its 100 take-off guarantee. The OCAC representatives have promised to come up with the plan for midcountry mega refinery. The POL demand of the upcountry (Punjab and KPK) has increased manifold. Currently, there is a surge of 20 percent in the demand of motor gasoline in the country and 15 percent increase in demand diesel has been registered

    So much so, Pakistan State Oil has also acquired the shares of the Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) and it has planned to upgrade the said refinery by increasing its capacity to 100,000 BPD from the existing 50,000 BPD.

    Pakistan currently imports oil products of 19.63 million tons per annum that include furnace oil of 6.6 million tons, diesel 2.6m tons, petrol 2.3m tons, jet fuel 0.13m tons, and crude oil eight million tons. The country gets crude oil of 3.85 million tons from within.

    And in case the Nawaz government succeeds to establish the deep conversion refineries, one by PARCO and other one by OCAC, then Pakistan’s dependence on imports of furnace oil (6.6 million tons), diesel (2.6 million tons), petrol (2.3 million tons), jet fuel (0.13 million tons) will be ended as the proposed refinery will provide the required finished and refined petroleum products.

    There are seven oil refineries with total annual refining capacity of 12.87 million tons out of which four are based around Karachi with collective capacity of 6.3 million tons per annum mainly to feed southern and central parts of the country. PARCO, being the largest refinery located in the midcountry and ARL at Rawalpindi, cater for demand in central and northern parts of the country.

    For setting up the refinery, no permission of Government of Pakistan is required and refineries are free to sell their product to any marketing company or they can set up their own marketing companies. However, license from Ogra is required under the Ogra ordinance 2002.
    https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/181164-Parco-to-set-up-5-bn-deep-conversion-coastal-refinery#
 

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Unequal CPEC distribution: Alliance set to launch protest campaign

PESHAWAR: An alliance of political parties and civil society organisations announced an agitation campaign across the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Monday against unequal distribution of projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The alliance – called the Corridor Front – includes the Awami Workers’ Party and the main faction of the ANP.

Leaders of the front, addressing a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, said that they opposed an upcoming all-party conference arranged by the federal government on CPEC.

The front’s convener Dr Said Alam Mehsud criticised Chief Minister Parvez Khattak for compromising with the federal government at the sixth Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of China and Pakistan in Beijing.

Before the JCC meeting, the provincial government was opposing the alleged change of CPEC’s western route and criticised the federal government on various forums.

Mehsood said that the chief minister and the K-P government had radically changed their stance despite knowing that nothing had been approved for the province during the JCC meeting.

“We wonder which projects’ inclusion had led to the change in the provincial government’s stance.”

Furthermore, he opposed the new APC on CPEC and said that the APC had been called just to get the K-P government to declare their approval of the decisions made in the sixth JCC meeting.

Accusing the CM of having turned down resolution tabled in the provincial assembly, he said that none of the provincial government’s demands had been accepted.

Discussing the front’s agitation plans, he said that the Front had divided the province into eight zones and they have persuaded tribal elders to mobilise public opinion against the existing CPEC routes.

Moreover, he said, the Front would first create public awareness and subsequently, stage a sit-in outside the K-P assembly.
 

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Parco to set up $5 bn deep conversion coastal refinery Hub, Balochistan

“The project requires $5 billion investment and to this effect the UAE has allocated the funds.”
Seems nice from the outside. But how are the Pakis going to pay back the capital and the interest that goes with it?

The Paks have bitten more than they can chew. Billions of dollars worth of projects that may never take off or fall far short of what they were intended for. Payback time is when Pak will go bust!
 

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Govt restores Hub coal power project capacity after ‘Chinese firm objected’
ISLAMABAD: The government has restored the capacity of a coal-fired power project in Hub, Balochistan, to 1,320 megawatts after the Chinese company that was developing the project reportedly took up the matter at the highest level.
On Wednesday, the government signed an implementation and power-purchase agreements with two Chinese and local companies for setting up of two coal-based power projects in Hub and Thar with a cumulative generation capacity of 1,650MW. The projects are targeted to come on line in August 2019.
The 1,320MW Hub power project, to be run on imported coal, is being developed by a consortium of Hub Power Company and China Power International Holding Company at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion. The 330MW Thar project is being developed by Thar Energy Ltd of Hub Power Company and will use local coal.
In November, a meeting of the Private Power and Infrastructure Board presided over by Minister of Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif scaled down the 1,320MW plant to 660MW as part of the overall decision to contain power plants based on imported fuels.
However, the Chinese side took up the matter at the highest level and followed it up at the sixth Joint Cooperation Committee meeting of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Beijing (CPEC) in December.
The Chinese side is reported to have told Pakistan that commercial viability of the Hub power project on supercritical technology was possible only with 1,320MW for which it had also been given tariff by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on the request of the government of Pakistan.
It also said the negotiations and processing of the project started in November 2014 pertained to 1,320MW for which financial arrangements had also been ensured and its unilateral reduction to 660MW at an advanced stage was unacceptable.
The Wednesday’s signing ceremony was again supervised by Mr Asif and Secretary Power Mohammad Younas Dagha.
Mr Asif termed these agreements as the achievement of an important milestone under energy framework of the CPEC. He said the construction work on site of the Hub project has already been started and the project would be completed in August 2019 with first to be synchronised with national grid by December 2018.
He said the establishment of these two projects was a clear negation of notion that the power projects had been concentrated in a single province, as these projects were being built in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
This will have a very good social and economic impact on people of these provinces. He said the completion of these projects would be followed by more and Thar would become the “energy capital of Pakistan”.
He added that the “environment-friendly” Hub project will use supercritical technology, whereas the Thar project will use subcritical technology.
Asked why subcritical technology was being used in Thar, he said it was a pilot project the technology will be upgraded with the passage of time.
The minister said that after overhauling of the Nandipur Power Plant, the plant continuously transmitted 230MW to the national grid in first two weeks of this month. For the last one week, it is generating with full capacity of 430MW. He added said that six furnace oil treatment plants have been installed at the plant to remove its past shortcomings. Moreover, the gas supply to the plant would also be ensured by May 2017 so that it could generate 525MW.
The minister said the process of land acquisition for Diamer-Bhasha dam had been mostly completed and a small part was still being acquired. He said the groundbreaking of the project would be performed this year.
 

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Sahiwal coal-fired power plant connected to grid, will generate 1,320mw by June
DAWN.COM

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday said the Sahiwal power plant has been connected to the national grid after its completion, reported Radio Pakistan.

He added that the power plant will generate 1,320 megawatts from June after its testing has been completed.



The first trial freight train also departed from Karachi and reached the coal terminal built at the Sahiwal power plant, which generates electricity using coal.

The spokesman for the Pakistan Railways said another train with coal will reach the power plant on Tuesday.

The $1.8 billion Sahiwal power plant has two units of 660MW each and would be first power plant to be run on imported coal.

The government, thereafter, imposed a ban on plants run on imported coal and stressed upon the need to use indigenous coal from Thar.
 

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Pakistan's Next 25 Generations will not be able to return China' CPEC debt
They won't live that long they know. Their days are numbered. They have ditched their master US to sleep with Lizard. Now add to that India Under Modi Govt, the combination is deadly for them.:biggrin2::devil:
 

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