ISLAMABAD: China is committed to the construction of the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (CHASNUPP) unit three and four, Chairman Board of Investment (BoI) Saleem Mandviwala said addressing a news conference here on Monday. He added that he was not aware about other details relating to these projects, as BOI processed 18 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) of $ 15 billion investment while 13 MoU were signed at the Prime Minister’s residence.
China has helped Pakistan to construct CHASNUPP-1, which started its commercial operations from September, 2000. The construction of CHASNUPP-2 also started with the help of China in 2005 and is expected to start power generation from 2011. Pakistan wants Chinese help to add two more units to produce cheap nuclear electricity.
Chairman BOI said Chinese have signed $ 10 billion MoU only for power generation enhancement in the country. He said a $ 6.5 billion MoU was signed between the China Three Gorges Corporation and the Alternate Energy Development Board to undertake development of 3000 MW of wind and solar power projects on the basis of build operate and own (BOO) or build, operate, own and transfer (BOOT).
He said a framework agreement of $ 3.5 billion was signed between the China Development Bank and National Transmission and Despatch Company for improving the national transmission network. However, he said that many important MoUs could not be signed between the two governments due to time constraints and these would be taken up on a bilateral basis. He especially mentioned a dredging agreement between the China Harbour and Sindh government, which was held on the last minute.
On the issue of technology transfer, he said, important talks were held between the state-owned enterprises and Chinese investors.
