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Pakistan plans to construct a civil nuclear power plant with China’s help in the country’s biggest city to meet growing demand for energy, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said today.
“We and China are building this plant together,” Sharif told a seminar in Islamabad that was televised live by state-run PTV. He plans to travel to Karachi on Nov. 26 to lay the foundation stone of Pakistan’s sixth nuclear power plant, which he said will produce 2,117 megawatts of electricity.
China has helped Pakistan build two atomic reactors at Chashma in Punjab province, and is assisting with two more under construction at the same site. The new plant would be the second in Karachi.
Sharif regained power for a record third time in a May election on a pledge to end chronic power shortages that have weighed on growth in the country’s $231 billion economy. The IMF approved a $6.6 billion loan in September for the South Asian nation to help stabilize the economy, which has also been hurt by a Taliban insurgency.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan’s growing dependence on long-time ally China follows years of strained relations with the U.S. amid the war in Afghanistan and American drone attacks against Pakistani guerrillas in the country’s tribal areas.
“Drone attacks on Pakistan are totally unacceptable,” Sharif said during the speech at the seminar.
U.S. Agreement
Even so, Pakistan is seeking a civil nuclear agreement with the U.S. similar to the one President George W. Bush reached with India in 2008 as it seeks to do away with power cuts lasting as long as 18 hours a day during peak demand in summer. Pakistan tested nuclear devices in 1998, after India conducted similar experiments.
Blackouts in Pakistan have sparked violent street protests in the past and contributed to the defeat of former President Asif Ali Zardari’s party in May. Sharif said in his party manifesto that his administration plans to attract $20 billion in investment to add 10,000 megawatts to the grid in five years.
Electricity interruptions, as well as shortages of natural gas, sliced two percentage points off economic growth in the fiscal year that ended in June 2012, the most recent year for which data is available from Pakistan’s Planning Commission.
Pakistan Plans Nuclear Power Plant With China Amid Energy Woes - Bloomberg
“We and China are building this plant together,” Sharif told a seminar in Islamabad that was televised live by state-run PTV. He plans to travel to Karachi on Nov. 26 to lay the foundation stone of Pakistan’s sixth nuclear power plant, which he said will produce 2,117 megawatts of electricity.
China has helped Pakistan build two atomic reactors at Chashma in Punjab province, and is assisting with two more under construction at the same site. The new plant would be the second in Karachi.
Sharif regained power for a record third time in a May election on a pledge to end chronic power shortages that have weighed on growth in the country’s $231 billion economy. The IMF approved a $6.6 billion loan in September for the South Asian nation to help stabilize the economy, which has also been hurt by a Taliban insurgency.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan’s growing dependence on long-time ally China follows years of strained relations with the U.S. amid the war in Afghanistan and American drone attacks against Pakistani guerrillas in the country’s tribal areas.
“Drone attacks on Pakistan are totally unacceptable,” Sharif said during the speech at the seminar.
U.S. Agreement
Even so, Pakistan is seeking a civil nuclear agreement with the U.S. similar to the one President George W. Bush reached with India in 2008 as it seeks to do away with power cuts lasting as long as 18 hours a day during peak demand in summer. Pakistan tested nuclear devices in 1998, after India conducted similar experiments.
Blackouts in Pakistan have sparked violent street protests in the past and contributed to the defeat of former President Asif Ali Zardari’s party in May. Sharif said in his party manifesto that his administration plans to attract $20 billion in investment to add 10,000 megawatts to the grid in five years.
Electricity interruptions, as well as shortages of natural gas, sliced two percentage points off economic growth in the fiscal year that ended in June 2012, the most recent year for which data is available from Pakistan’s Planning Commission.
Pakistan Plans Nuclear Power Plant With China Amid Energy Woes - Bloomberg
