News
Sunday, July 07, 2013
Pakistan urges China to pull it out of power crisis* PM tells Chinese investors his govt will remove all bottlenecks to attract investment
SHANGHAI: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said the present government in Pakistan was a pro-business and investment-friendly regime, which would welcome Chinese investment for addressing the energy issues.
Addressing the Pakistan-China Energy Forum, which was attended by more than 50 prominent Chinese investors, the prime minister said that he was leading the government to pull the country out of an economic meltdown. He expressed the resolve to eliminate all bottlenecks leading to investment in the energy sector.
He said that resolution of energy issues was the top priority of his government, and the government would welcome all Chinese and foreign investment in this regard.
The prime minister hoped that Chinese investment in the energy sector would take the lead. Nawaz expressed his pleasure for addressing the top corporate leaders in the energy conference between China and Pakistan.
He said that Pakistan and China had emerged from heavy challenges, and that irrespective of political changes the two countries’ relationship had been steady and strong. “Truly we are ‘Iron Brothers’ as premier Li has remarked during his visit to Islamabad,” the prime minister said. Referring to issues back in the country, the prime minister said that revival of Pakistan’s economy was the priority of his government.
Meanwhile, Travelling from Beijing to Shanghai through high-speed train, the prime minister held four meetings with different delegates and discussed with them the power and infrastructure projects with regard to Pakistan. He told the delegates that his government desired to generate maximum chunk of power through coal to get low-priced electricity and get rid of power outages.
During a meeting with the prime minister, China Machinery Engineering Corporation Vice President Jin Chunsheng said that his company had long been engaged in the power sector of Pakistan, and was currently working on a power project in Jamshoro. Chunsheng told the prime minister that his company was capable of manufacturing coal turbines, having the capacity to generate up to 1,000 megawatts, as usually coal turbines generate a maximum of 5,000MW electricity.
Separately, Three Gorges Corporation of China Chairman Cao GuangJing, who called on the prime minister, said that his company was executing nine power projects in Pakistan.
The prime minister assured the company’s head that the government would address any problem confronting the company in the execution of projects.
Cao GuangJing offered the company’s technical assistance to Pakistan for Diamer-Bhasha Dam project, besides expressing willingness to carry out more hydroelectric power projects in the country. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk