$20 billion investment package for Pakistan: Saudi government makes yet another importnat development
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*ISLAMABAD: Over the $20 billion investment package for Pakistan from Saudi government, another importnat development has been made as the high level Saudi government delegation arrived in Pakistan for the follow up of the mega investment package.*
Saudi Arabia has vowed to show tangible progress on $20 billion investment commitments before the next meeting of Pak-Saudi Supreme Coordination Council, which will also require a big push from Pakistan to take these projects to their next level of implementation.
“The proposed mega projects are complex and require time and studies but our leaderships want to accelerate work on them,” said Saudi Arabia Deputy Minister of Energy Khalid Saleh Al-Modaifer during an interaction on Friday.
Saleh Al-Modaifer is heading a Saudi delegation to review progress on the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in February.
The deputy energy minister said there is a resolve to show tangible results before the meeting of the Supreme Coordination Council. The meeting is tentatively scheduled to take place early next year and the kingdom wants to use this period to give a push to the projects.
Saudi Arabia has announced a $20 billion investment package for Pakistan that includes a petrochemical complex, renewable energy projects and investment in mineral resources. All these projects are located in Balochistan.
The Kingdom has already given $3 billion in cash assistance besides providing $3.2 billion oil facility on deferred payments. Saudi Arabia plans to set up a $10 to $12 billion oil refinery in Pakistan’s deep-sea port of Gwadar.
“The refinery complex is very large project and will have all value chain that will require studies. Its technical study will be done by October,” said the deputy minister.
Minister for Power Omar Aub said the government has finalised four sites for setting up wind farms to generate approximately 500MW of electricity. “200MW will be generated through renewable energy in Quetta while three other sites have also been identified in Balochsitan to setup wind farms,” he said.
The Pak-Saudi Supreme Coordination Council was established this year for promotion of political, economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries.
Prime Minister Imran Khan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman jointly presided over an inaugural session of the council during the visit of the crown prince.