ISLAMABAD: In a recent meeting held in Islamabad, China had shared withPakistan that it has so far invested $12.4 billion in the latter’s energysector under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework.
As per the sources, the Chinese side had stated that as of Sept 2019, 12power generation projects have either entered the construction phase orhave begun their commercial operations. The total installed capacity ofthese projects was 7,240MW with an investment of about $12.4 billion.
During the 9th Joint Coordination Committee meeting between the topofficials of the two counties, it was informed that there were nine COD(Commercial Operation Date) projects being constructed in phases with atotal investment of about $8.175 billion. The total installed capacitythese projects was 5,320MW.
Similarly, three projects, expected to be completed and put into operationbetween 2020/21 to 2022/23 fiscal years, were under construction with atotal installed capacity of 1,920MW.
In addition, nine projects with a total installed capacity of 6,390MW stoodat an early stage.
The Chinese side noted that energy cooperation under CPEC has helpedincrease power supply in Pakistan. “In the fiscal year 2018-2019, powergeneration from CPEC projects reached 17.728 billion kWh, 14.5pc of thetotal output in the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC)system.”
In addition to this, energy cooperation has also facilitated economic andsocial development in Pakistan. According to statistics, the corridor’s CODprojects as of the FY19 have paid about $250 million in taxes, besidesproviding over 10,000 jobs.
JOINT STUDY ON PAKISTANI MARKET
During the meeting, both sides noted that a joint expert panel had reachedconsensus over the ‘Report of Joint Study on Power Market in Pakistan'(finalised on November 3, 2019), which indicated that the power supply anddemand would be balanced in Pakistan from 2019 to 2030.
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Both sides agreed in principle that the CPEC energy project list may bereviewed and adjusted based on the ‘Supplementary Protocol to Agreement onthe CPEC Energy Projects Cooperation between the China and Pakistan'(signed on February 3, 2016) and the recommendations by expert panels withregard to the project list adjustment in line with the Report of JointStudy on Power Market in Pakistan.
The outcome of the adjustment shall be endorsed in the form of a signedagreement between China National Energy Administration and PakistanMinistry of Energy (Power Division).
The Pakistani provinces proposed projects including 135MW Taunsa hydropowerproject by Punjab, 350MW Toren More Kari HPP and 260MW Jameshill HPP by KP,off-grid solution for Balochistan and merged district of KP. The JCC agreedthat project proposals would be evaluated by both expert panels.
The Chinese and Pakistani leaders have recently reached an agreement onadvancing CPEC development with high standards and building CPEC projectsinto model projects of “Belt and Road” Initiative.
In this regard, the joint expert team has drafted the guiding principlesfor CPEC energy cooperation projects. Both sides agreed that the draft andlaunch of the guiding principles at the current stage was an important stepto ensure long and steady progress of CPEC.
The two sides also agreed to revise and improve the terms of the guidingprinciples and to launch the document within this year.
