Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Pakistan and China for a 1200 MW Chashma-5 (C-5) nuclear power project worth of $3.48 billion. President of China National Nuclear Corporation Overseas Ltd (CNOS) and Member Power, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Muhammad Saeed Ur Rehman signed the MoU.
Speaking on the occasion, Shehbaz Sharif said the nuclear power project was a great step forward towards economic cooperation between the two countries.
The prime minister said decision to start this project had been taken and main conditions were agreed during previous government of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but the successive government put this project in the cold storage.
He said keeping view the higher international inflation, the project cost would have been much higher than that determined in 2017-18 but the Chinese government not only abstained from raising the cost according to the inflation but also gave a discount of around Rs 30 billion.
Vowing to kick start the project without delay, the prime minister said under the difficult economic situation, investment from China in this project to the tune of $3.48 billion sent a clear message that Pakistan was a place where Chinese companies and investors continued to show their trust and faith.
“This reflects the famous quote that our friendship is higher than Himalayas, deeper than the deepest ocean, sweeter than sugar and honey, and stronger than iron and steel. He said President Xi Jinping had called this friendship as iron brothers. He said recently he also inaugurated K-3 nuclear project in Karachi.
He said owing to the economic challenges, Pakistan was engaged with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) trying to finalize the 9th review. “Pakistan has met all conditions required by the IMF that has been done three months ago, but there has been inordinate delay”, he said adding that China once again had come to Pakistan’s rescue.
PM Shehbaz said during last few months, China also renewed commercial and sovereign loans which reflected unparallel friendship between the two countries.
