KARACHI: PowerChina Resources Ltd Chairman Sheng Yuming has said that his company is ready to work more closely with Pakistani partners through further investments in the energy sector to contribute to the economic and social progress of the Pakistan. Talking to a select group of journalists after the inauguration of Unit-1 of 1320 MW Port Qasim Coal-Fired Power Project, Sheng Yuming said that the plant will not only generate the cheapest electricity because of low cost of fuel and transportation but is also environmental-friendly. “The most important part of Port Qasim project is provision of more sufficient, affordable, cleaner, cheaper and sustainable energy to people of Pakistan,” he said. The Port Qasim Coal-Fired Power Project, jointly developed by PowerChina Resources Ltd and AMC of Qatar, is the first large-scale energy project launched under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as part of a series of investment agreements executed during President Xi Jinping’s historic visit to Pakistan in 2015. The chairman said that the synchronization of the Unit-1, located 37 km south of Karachi, was successfully achieved on November 10, exactly 50 days ahead of the schedule. He said the 2nd unit will start functioning in February next year. The total power generation capacity of the project is 1320 megawatts, he said, and added that the average annual energy output after completion will be around 9000GWH. Sheng Yuming said PowerChina Resources Ltd, an important overseas investment arm of POWERCHINA, has capability in capital operation and project development in electric power and mineral resources sector. “Currently there are eight projects in operation in Cambodia, Laos, Nepal and DR Congo, and six projects are under construction in Pakistan, Laos and Indonesia. A series of power and mineral projects in various countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Tanzania and Indonesia are also being actively promoted,” he said. The chairman said the project had been gaining the highest attention and strongest support from the governments of Pakistan and China since the commencement of construction work in May 2015. “With close cooperation with PPIB, NTDC, CPPA and other stakeholders, relying on the ample international operation management expertise and core leading technologies, POWERCHINA successfully built a high quality, technologically advanced and environment-friendly power plant on a literally barren plot of sea shoal within only 30 months,” he said. He said the success of the project has profoundly reflected the increasingly strengthened all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, witnessed the solid brotherhood and demonstrated the sincere cooperation between China and Pakistan. To a question, the chairman said that the Port Qasim Power Project directly created over 4000 job opportunities for Pakistani engineers and labourers during the construction phase, and will annually create around 500 training and job opportunities for Pakistani talents during the operations phase. Talking about the CPEC initiative, Sheng Yuming said that by drawing wisdom from the history and studying the global changes and trends in the recent years, the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward by the Chinese leadership. “Considering the sound and constant collaboration between China and Pakistan, the two governments agreed to materially promote CPEC, a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. We believe this grand programme will certainly play a positive role in advancing economic and social progress in Pakistan and in the region,” he said. Published in Daily Times, December 5th 2017.