ISLAMABAD: Both Pakistan and China have agreed to move energy sector investments under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to hydro-power development.
This decision comes after deciding to limit capacity generation from standard power projects at 11,110 megawatts, reported Dawn.
Most of the energy projects under active CPEC list are in conclusion phase now having capacity of 11,100 MW and hence outstanding capacity addition of 6,000 MW would be moved over to hydropower sector in next stage.
According to a senior official at the Planning Commission (PC), Pakistan and China originally had decided overall capacity addition under CPEC to be around 17,100MW and formed part of the agreement on CPEC Energy Project Cooperation.
He shared Pakistan knew since May 2017 based on data presentation of National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) that adequate capacity had been engaged for fast-track implementation.
Eventually, both Pakistan and China decided to make revision to list of energy projects which were in the recommendation list of CPEC Energy Planning Expert Group.
Irrespective, it was decided that overall capacity generation wouldn’t be changed from 17,050 MW. And it was mutually agreed, the remaining capacity would be moved to the hydropower sector, which require more development and maturity time to fit in with future forecasts.
The official said focus would be on development of hydropower resources on the Indus river. He shared an energy working group delegation would be paying a visit to Pakistan in March to conclude the list of hydropower projects.
