Bhasha Dam would be part of CPEC, says Planning Minister

ISLAMABAD: Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal briefing the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC has said that Diamer-Bhasha Dam would also become part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The committee meeting was chaired by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed here at the Parliament House.

Ahsan Iqbal said that 11,000 MW of electricity would be added to the national grid by 2018 including 5,000 MW under the CPEC and 6,000 MW under non-CPEC projects.

The minister briefed the committee on recently concluded meeting of the Joint Co-operation Committee (JCC) in Beijing on December, which was attended by chief ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Sindh, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Iqbal told the committee that for the first time, Thar

Coal, which has a huge capacity, would be used for electricity generation for the next 400 years. He added that two transmission lines, Matiari-Lahore and Matiari-Faisalabad, are being installed which would evacuate electricity from south and will be connected to the national grid benefiting all parts of the country.

Moreover, there was an agreement on giving priority to the construction of the western route of the CPEC as well as up-gradation and dualisation of Karachi-Torkham railway line at the cost of $8 billion. This would be the biggest railway modernisation project in the history of Pakistan, he added.

He said Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta would have rail-based mass transit systems as part of the CPEC.