The $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a mega infrastructure project that is aimed to link Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang province to Gwadar deep sea port in Pakistan, has made progress and benefited local people, a Chinese diplomat said.
The completed part of the CPEC project, under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is bringing tangible benefits to local people, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong said in an interview with Xinhua news agency.
Sun said the two countries have launched a host of early harvest projects focusing on energy and transport infrastructure to meet Pakistan’s immediate needs.
In the energy sector, 16 projects have been sorted out to be implemented first, which can generate 10.4 million kw of electricity in total, Sun said, adding that half of the projects have been under construction, and will help Pakistan ease its power shortages.
A solar power plant in Punjab province’s Bahawalpur city, built by the Chinese company ZTE Energy, has recently installed a 300-mw generator unit, which can produce 480 mn kWh annually, enough to satisfy the daily power consumption of at least 2,00,000 Pakistani families, Sun said.