CPEC boosts Pakistan’s national transmission network with advanced technology: Khurram Dastgir

Thanks to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan is now slowly moving from imported fuels to local fuel for power generation and from outdated technology to new Chinese technology, Minister for Power, Khurram Dastgir Khan has said.

“This shift is happening and Chinese companies are much more visible now. They are bringing their technology, their management to Pakistan, and they are teaching Pakistani engineers and workers,” he told Xinhua in a recent interview at a power transmission project under the CPEC.

The deeper penetration of Chinese companies into the energy sector was one of the major positive developments that had happened in the country as a result of CPEC, Khan said. Highlighting the prospects of the transmission network, he said that 660kV Matiari-Lahore high-voltage direct current transmission project under the CPEC was the most advanced transmission project in Pakistan’s history.

The project, being the only transmission project under CPEC, was crucial for Pakistan as it connected the country’s south to the north and vice versa, he said. This is now one of the principal backbones of Pakistan’s national transmission line, he said, noting that it had been operational for over 1,000 days without any issue, which was also a testament to the Chinese and Pakistani engineers who worked here and who had done so well in very challenging circumstances.

Regarding the 10th anniversary of CPEC this year, the minister said China supported Pakistan in 2013 when no other country was willing to invest. By the end of 2022, CPEC has brought 25.4 billion US dollars in direct investment to Pakistan and has created about 236,000 jobs for the country, as per a recent data revealed by Chinese embassy.