China to bear 85pc cost of Chashma power projects: The News

By Mehtab Haider

ISLAMABAD: China will provide 85 per cent cost for construction of Chashma Nuclear Power Projects (C3 and C4) by extending suppliers’ credit, paving the way for generating additional electricity up to 680 megawatt over the next seven years to overcome energy shortages in Pakistan, it is learnt.

According to highly placed official sources, Pakistan and China are going to finalise the modalities of the supplier credit for two more nuclear power reactors (Chashma 3 and Chashma 4) in the upcoming visit of President Asif Ali Zardari, who is visiting Beijing from Feb 20.

During the last visit of President Zardari, China and Pakistan had signed a deal for C3 and C4 and now finalisation of related modalities will be on the agenda of the upcoming highest level visit of Pakistani authorities during this ongoing week.

In the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for 2008-09, the government had estimated the cost of C3 and C4 worth Rs129.905 billion, with foreign currency component of Rs80.360 billion. The government has allocated Rs220 million for the C3 and C4 in the current fiscal year 2008-09. “The cost of the C3 and C4 has already gone up from Rs129 billion to over Rs140 billion mainly because of depreciation of rupee against dollar in the ongoing fiscal year,” a high-level official in the Planning Commission confirmed while talking to ‘The News’ here on Monday.

China has already installed a 325-megawatt reactor at Chashma and is currently working on another with the same capacity that is expected to begin producing by 2009-10. Pakistan is facing a deficit of 4,000 to 5,000 megawatts, resulting in torturous load-shedding for hours in a day.

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