Karot Hydropower Project

The 720-MW Karot hydropower project in Pakistan is the first project being financed under CPEC.

Karot, on the Jhelum River east of Islamabad, is expected to cost $1.64 billion and will be financed on a commercial basis. The People’s Bank of China, The Silk Road Fund and the World Bank will buy shares in China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd., a subsidiary of Three Gorges Corporation, which builds dams in China and outside the country. Other financiers of this project include the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank will issue loans to the Karot Power Company, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges South Asia Investment.

The US$50 billion fund was established by Chinese President Xi Jinping to finance projects in China’s Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road. The Silk Road is intended to connect China to Europe over land through Central Asia and Russia and by ports through a separate maritime route.

KAROT Hydropower Project is the 4th of the 5 cascade hydropower stations planned on Jhelum River in Pakistan, its upstream is the Azad Pattan HPP, and its downstream is the Mangla HPP. The Project is a single power generation task hydropower complex, with reservoir storage of 164.50 million m3. Its installed capacity is 720MW (4×180MW), average annual electricity output is 3436 GW•h.