Austria to provide $400m for Tarbela-5 project

ISLAMABAD: Austrian Ambassador to Pakistan Ms Brigitta Blaha met Finance Minister Ishaq Dar here on Monday. Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif was also present on the occasion.
Matters pertaining to proposed Tarbela-5 project came under discussion for which Austrian government has expressed willingness to provide a funding of 400 million dollars (300 million Euros).
The minister was apprised that the proposed project had the potential to generate 1400 MW of electricity on completion and an overall 800 million dollars investment was required to meet cost of its construction that also included 120 million dollars to be incurred on a transmission line.
There were also indication of providing finances from the ICBC China and savings from the Tarbela-4 project could also be utilised for the Tarbela-5 project, the minister was told.Lauding the Austrian government’s initiative regarding the Tarbela-5 project Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said while the Ministry of Water & Power could focus on completing the PC-1 on priority, EAD could attend to financial matters thus an early implementation of the project could be made possible.