Chinese investment in Pakistan’s power sector, under the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), has spiked to touch  $21 billion with the restoration of a powerhouse based on imported coal at Gwadar, media reports said.

“Earlier, the government had almost abandoned the construction of a powerhouse based on imported coal at Gwadar, arguing it would not encourage more electricity generation on imported fuel and made a plan to set up a solar plant in its place," a senior official of the Power Division told The News International.

“But, later it suggested to the Chinese government to convert the power plant based on Thar coal," an official said.

“The feasibility report did not favour employing Thar coal as the cost of transportation from Thar to Gwadar was found on the higher side. More importantly, the Chinese government refused to subscribe to Islamabad’s viewpoint and insisted on the restoration of the 300-MW powerhouse based on imported fuel," the official said.

“It termed the initiative the most strategic project, as the Gwadar port’s operation cannot be made dependent on any weak project, whose fuel transposition may be vulnerable given the law and order situation in the province and imported electricity from Iran as well," the official said.

The official said: “Now we have restored the 300-MW project on imported coal, which will be made operational by December 2025.”