Keeping in view the upcoming federal budget for 2016-17, experts on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to call on Chinese President Xi Jinping to fund the long-delayed Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
Rather than leaving Diamer Bhasha Dam for year 2037, the experts asked the federal government to attract Chinese investors for the dam as hydropower is the best solution to the country’s energy predicament as well as an important part of the energy mix that the government is trying to achieve.
These views were expressed at a seminar held under the aegis of the Institute of Policy Studies. The moot was titled “CPEC: The Energy Component”.
Speakers also urged the government to review the mix of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) energy portfolio because of the huge proportion of coal-fired projects.
They also called on the government to persuade China to include financing of Diamer-Basha and Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline projects under CPEC.
Planning Commission of Pakistan Member Energy Syed Akhtar Ali, the main speaker of the roundtable, in his presentation apprised the participants that the 76 per cent share of coal-fired power projects in the mix of CPEC’s energy component – comprising 22 projects worth $33.793 billion – was being reduced.
He called for removing misconceptions about coal fired power plants being set up under the CPEC and rejected the notion that obsolete technology was being used in them.
He also claimed that all three short-term energy targets of the present government will be met, which were adding up of 10,000MW electricity in the national grid, increasing natural gas/LNG by 1 to 2 BCFD (25-50 per cent increase) and zero load-shedding by 2018.
