Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Pakistan's largest 1320MW coal power project is going to be formally inaugurated on Thursday by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "This project costing 1.8 billion dollars has been completed in a record period of time under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The foundation stone of this project was laid on 31 July 2015, and it has been completed in a record period of 22 months. Till date 660MW of electricity through this project has been added to the national grid," the chief minister said.
He said there was a time in the past when agreements were signed but were never implemented. Sharif said during the 70 years' history of Pakistan thousands of agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed but quite few of them were materialized. "That is why I have lost trust in MoUs. I try to enter into agreements. The speed with which the accords signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Pakistan in April 2015 have been implemented has surprised the whole world from Washington to Tokyo and from Delhi to Moscow," Shahbaz said
The Chief Minister expressed these views while addressing the concluding session of second international seminar on investment opportunities in Punjab. On the occasion, more than 60 agreements and MoUs were signed. Provincial ministers, diplomats, consul generals of China and Turkey, members of the parliament, chief secretary, investors from 26 countries of the world, and local traders and industrialists attended the seminar.
He said the political and military leadership had provided best security to all the CPEC projects, adding the Punjab government had set up special protection unit which was providing security to CPEC and other important projects on its own. He also said that IMF, World Bank, Moody's and other international institutions are acknowledging the improved economy in Pakistan; while the economy of Pakistan has been termed as the emerging economy. He said this seminar has proved success from every respect as more than 400 investors from 26 countries had gathered under one roof.