Energy and the CPEC

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, though promoted as the economic cure our country so desperately needs, has been subject to the usual political problems that plague all development projects. It was originally intended to pass through the economically-deprived areas of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the route was then changed to include Sindh and Punjab because those places already had the requisite infrastructure, never mind the fact that the CPEC was intended to bring development to the two ignored provinces. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is now trying to remedy that by requesting that 29 energy projects in the province be included in the CPEC. The reason for including these projects is not so that the funding will come from the $46 billion provided for the CPEC but so that it will become a priority rather than languishing in the doldrums. The case the KP government provides is a compelling one: the CPEC already includes many coal-based energy projects where the work is mainly supposed to be done by Chinese engineers. Since these projects are mainly hydel they should be given equal, if not more, importance. The request was made by the provincial energy minister at a hearing of the CPEC parliamentary committee and will now be taken up by the Joint Working Group on energy, at which Chinese representatives will also be present, next month.

Under the CPEC right now, a total of $36 billion has been allocated to energy projects. Three of the bigger projects currently being worked on include a $2.8 billion investment in a coal power project in Sahiwal that will produce 1,320MW of energy, another 1,320MW project at Port Qasim and a 900MW solar power project in Bahawalpur. The 29 hydel projects in KP will cost $12 billion and produce a combined 3,900MW. Since these approved projects are mostly in Punjab and Karachi, the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are right to demand that their priorities not be ignored. Projects in these provinces may end up costing more because of security and the cost of developing infrastructure but the CPEC is meant not only to be a collaboration with China but a way of bringing development to such areas. The government has made some progress by beginning work on the western route of the CPEC, and started building three universities in Balochistan as well as approving energy projects in Dir. But to ensure the success of this mammoth project, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan will have to be treated as equal stakeholders.