China has commenced construction of a USD two billion coal power plant in Pakistan's Balochistan province, the second major project after Gwadar port in the restive province under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The ground-breaking ceremony of the 1,320 MW coal-based power plant in Hub district was held yesterday. The plant has a capacity of providing electricity to about four million families after its completion in 2019, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
It will contribute nine billion kWh of cheaper electricity annually into Pakistan's national grid.
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The project, which is one of the "priority projects" under the CPEC, is being constructed by the China Power International Holding Ltd and Hub Power Company Limited, with a total cost of around USD two billion.
This is the second major project in Balochistan as China has already taken over the management of the Gwadar port which connects CPEC with China's Xinjiang province.
Earlier, China has expressed concerns over the safety of its personnel in Balochistan following a number of terrorist attacks in the restive province.
China has committed to building a number of energy projects in Pakistan to ease power crisis.
The boiler units being used for the project are state of the art super critical technology which is currently being widely used in most of the developing counties to improve coal efficiency, to lower the cost of fuel and to cut down emissions.
The super critical technology is globally used to improve the coal efficiency and a highly efficient technology to desulfurisation will be also used in the Hub project, Wang Binghua, chairman of the board of the China Power International Holding Ltd said.
The Balochistan provincial government recently also got a minor shareholding in the project.
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