Pak: Chinese company keen to invest in Power project

Islamabad: A Chinese company, Sinohydro Corporation, has showed interest in investment in Pakistan by constructing 1100 MW Kohala Hydropower project. The company official said this during a meeting with Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf.

The company gave a detailed presentation to the minister about their ongoing projects and briefed him on the company's expertise in the construction of hydropower projects.

Water and Power Minister said that the government would remove all bottlenecks to facilitate the foreign investors to invest in the water and power sector in Pakistan as there are great opportunities in this sector.

He said that the foreign investment in the hydel power generation will help to meet the country's future power requirements at affordable prices. The Minister also informed the company's delegation that Pakistan was embarking on construction of multipurpose dams, which would meet the power needs on a long term basis.

The delegation also informed that it is working on 156 hydropower projects in various countries of the world. The company is already constructing Gomal Zam dam, Khan Khawar hydropower project and Dubair Khawar hydropower project in Pakistan.

The Minister appreciated their interest of the company to invest in the hydel power generation and said that international consultants have been appointed for detailed engineering, designs and tendering documents for Kohala Hydropower project, which are in final stages.

He expressed the hope that the company would take opportunity to participate in the international competitive bidding to be held for Kohala Hydropower and various other water and power projects.

He said that the government will provide complete assistance to the Chinese companies to invest in this sector. He stated that the confidence of the foreign investors would gain new heights and the economy would be made more stable through adopting rational policies to remove all hindrance and bottlenecks in this respect.

The pace of work on various ongoing Wapda projects being constructed by the Sinohydro Corporation was also discussed during the meeting. Adviser to Ministry, Chairman Wapda, Additional Secretary and other senior officials of the Ministry and Wapda were also present. Later, the Minister expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the tragic death of Chinese engineer, who died while working in the Gomal Zam dam project last month.