Even as Pakistan faces an unprecedented financial crisis, its all-weather friend China on Tuesday signed a major $4.8 billion deal to set up a 1,200 MW nuclear power plant. Describing it as a major victory in enhancing strategic cooperation between the two countries, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Beijing for showing confidence at a time when the country is facing such huge economic turmoil.
Under the recent deal, Beijing will build the 1,200 MW Chashma-V nuclear plant at Chashma in Punjab’s Mianwali district. Furthermore, elaborating on the project, he said that Islamabad will try its best to complete the work within the promised time frame. Significantly, this was not the first time that China has invested heavily in Pakistan.
Pakistan promised to complete the project on time
Earlier, the government led by President Xi Jinping had heavily invested in 3,000-km-long infrastructure projects connecting China’s northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Gwadar port in Pakistan’s western province of Balochistan. This project is also known as CPEC. In this project, China suffered huge losses due to Pakistan’s inability to complete the project within the stipulated date. However, this time, PM Sharif did not want to anger his neighbor and said, “We will start it without any delay”. He said while criticizing the previous government led by Imran Khan for the delay in the major power project.
He said that under a difficult economic situation, Pakistan was receiving an investment of $4.8 billion from China in this project, which “sends a message that Pakistan is a place where Chinese companies and investors continue to show their trust and confidence”. Are”. Sharif said that Chinese companies had given special concessions which would save billions of rupees in this project.
Pakistan Chashma Power Plant
Pakistan’s Chashma power plants are considered important in the production of cheap nuclear power. The existing four power plants have an installed capacity of 1,330 MW, according to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. Two other nuclear power plants are also operational in Pakistan. Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP 2 and 3 have a capacity of 2,290 MW).
Pakistan, which is heavily in financial debt, is not getting multilateral loans or even bilateral aid without the support of the IMF. Only China has stood fast to help Pakistan while Saudi Arabia and UAE have also been selective in their support.
IMF signed an agreement in 2019 to provide USD 6 billion to Pakistan on fulfillment of certain conditions. The plan was derailed several times and full reimbursement is still pending due to the donor’s insistence that Pakistan should complete all formalities. Pakistan’s economy has been in a state of steady decline for the past several years, putting unbridled pressure on the poor population in the form of rampant inflation and making survival almost impossible for a large number of people.