Pakistan to build three new nuclear power plants with Chinese assistance

Pakistan's Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) is reportedly set to approve 1.4 trillion rupees worth of projects which include three nuclear power plants to be built in Karachi with Chinese assistance.

According to the Express Tribune, the Ecnec, headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, will approve the nuke plants of 2,400 megawatts capacity and will also consider approving the Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS) project.

China had stopped processing a 448 million dollars loan for this project due to reservations about two other projects namely 'Safe City Islamabad' and a communications project.

However, post the change in government in Pakistan, chances of finalisation of the loan have brightened as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to take up the matter with the Chinese authorities during his ongoing trip.

The Planning Commission officials said that Ecnec may also consider approving Karachi Nuclear Power Plant-I (Kanupp-I) and Kanupp-II along with approving the 969MW Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project with revised cost estimates from 84 billion rupees to 274.9 billion rupees.

The report said that Ecnec will approve Karachi Coastal Power project, sponsored by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) at an estimated cost of 1,100MW nuclear power plant being 958.8 billion rupees including 692 billion rupees foreign loan.

The report further added that Enec will also consider approving the Nandipur Power Plant of 425MW, with a revised cost from 22 billion rupees to 57.4 billion rupees.