China may accede to Pak request for making Bhasha Dam part of CPEC

ISLAMABAD: China’s Ambassador in Pakistan Sun Weidong said that Beijing would continue increasing financial support for Pakistan in phased manner in order to create win-win situation for both the countries.
While confirming Pakistan’s request to China for inclusion of $14 billion Diamer Bhasha dam into China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan and China were converting from geo- strategic relation to economic-strategic ties under the game changer CPEC initiatives.
“It depends upon the need of the country as Beijing will continue increasing its support for Pakistan in phased manner under CPEC,” the Chinese Ambassador said while replying to a query regarding possibility of increasing assistance to Pakistan beyond committed amount of $46 billion during the concluding session of maiden CPEC Media conference here on Tuesday. In this event, 14 member media delegation from China participated in it.
The CPEC Media forum was established few months back in China which was headed by renowned journalist Tahir Khalil, bureau chief Daily Jang Islamabad.
To another query regarding completion of energy projects till 2018 in order to help the country for overcoming power outages, the Ambassador said that out of 14 energy projects out of which 9 projects had achieved financial close or at advance stage so these projects would be on the ground very soon. The Minister for Planning argued that the Port Qasim power coal project having capacity of 1230 MW is now on the ground which will be completed by end of 2017.
The Sahiwal power plant with 1230 MW capacity will be completed by beginning of 2018. Thar coal projects will also be completed by 2017. The wind power project with 250 MW capacity and 300 MW solar project at Bhawalpur will also be completed.
The Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan proposed China to include $14 billion Bhasha dam into CPEC framework during recently concluded 5th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) between the two countries and China showed its willingness to take up this project into next Joint Working Group deliberations.
The Bhasha dam, he said, would be formally launched during the current fiscal year as the government completed land acquisition at a cost of Rs105 billion. He said that the government would unbundle Bhasha into construction of dam site and installing power generation facility with total cost of $14 billion. Once the dam is constructed then there will be lot of interest from investor to install power generation facility, he added.
Without completion of Bhasha dam, the minister said that Dasu hydropower project would not be able to generate its total installed capacity so the construction of Bhasha dam was considered lifeline for securing the country from looming water and food crisis.
The Chairman Parliamentary Committee on CPEC Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said on the occasion that the Parliamentary committee was going to hold its next meeting at Gwadar on November 28 and 29 and then Parliamentarians would travel from Gwadar to Ratu Dero to witness progress on western route under CPEC initiative.
He said that the benefits of CPEC would reach out to whole Pakistan especially for Balochistan and KP. He said that Bhasha dam would now become part of the CPEC framework. He said that the Parliamentary committee had recommended dual carriage for western route which was now adopted by both the countries.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid in his address at inaugural session said that all provinces would get benefit from the CPEC. He said that CPEC was a long term vision which would be succeeded into enhancing people to people contact between the two countries.
The CPEC Media Forum decided to award journalists on best stories related to CPEC, frequent exchanges, ensuring participation of regional media and providing access to information related to CPEC projects.