In this photo released by Press Information Department, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, center, with unidentified Chinese officials dig during the groundbreaking ceremony of 5th Unit of Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (Chashma-5) in Chashma, Mianwali, Pakistan, Friday, July 14, 2023. Sharif launched the construction of a 1,200-megawatt Chinese-designed nuclear energy project, which will be built at a cost of $3.5 billion as part of the government efforts to generate more clean energy in the Islamic nation. (Press Information Department via AP)
In this photo released by Press Information Department, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, center, with unidentified Chinese officials dig during the groundbreaking ceremony of 5th Unit of Chashma Nuclear Power Plant (Chashma-5) in Chashma, Mianwali, Pakistan, Friday, July 14, 2023. Sharif launched the construction of a 1,200-megawatt Chinese-designed nuclear energy project, which will be built at a cost of $3.5 billion as part of the government efforts to generate more clean energy in the Islamic nation. (Press Information Department via AP)
ISLAMABAD (AP) â Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday launched the construction of a 1,200-megawatt Chinese-designed nuclear energy project, which will be built at a cost of $3.5 billion as part of the government efforts to generate more clean energy in the Islamic nation.
The ceremony marking the start of the project comes less than a month after Pakistan signed an agreement with Chinaâs șĂÉ«tv Nuclear Corporation Overseas in the capital, Islamabad, to construct a Hualong One reactor â a third-generation nuclear reactor and is considered safer because of the latest security features.
Pakistan and China are longtime allies. Pakistanâs relations with Beijing are so close that its leadership calls China their âIron Brother.â China is also to link its far west with the Chinese-built port of Gwadar on the Indian Ocean.
The nuclear power plant known as Chashma-5 will be constructed at a site along the left embankment of the fast-flowing Indus River in Mianwali, a district in the eastern Punjab province. The site is already home to four Chinese-supplied nuclear power plants that were built in recent decades.
Sharif, in his televised remarks at a gathering of Pakistani and Chinese officials in Mianwali, said the Chashma-5 nuclear energy project by itself was a âhuge milestone, a huge success story, and a wonderful symbol of the cooperation between two great friends.â
Pakistan will get clean, efficient and cheaper energy at the completion of the project, he said.
Pakistan got its first nuclear power plant from Canada and currently generates only 8% of its electricity from nuclear power plants. It plans to increase that figure to 20% by 2030.
In recent months, China gave $5 billion in loans to Pakistan to help it unlock a bailout from the International Monetary Fund to tackle a serious economic crisis. The Wednesday, after keeping it on hold since December.
On Friday, Sharif said his country will never forget the Chinese financial assistance that was given to his country when it faced a risk of default. It was a âvery valuable contribution at a very difficult time, and the nation will never forget it,â he said.
Sharif, whose term as premier ends in August, said Pakistan is no longer at risk of a default.
