Pakistan and China sign MoU on 7,000 megawatt Bunji dam

[LahoreEstate]

* Dam will be constructed in Astore district of the Northern Areas
* Zardari seeks Chinese help to overcome power crisis

HANGZHOU: Pakistan and China on Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the construction of Bunji dam in Astore district of the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

The agreement was signed between Pakistan’s Ministry of Water and Power and China’s Three Gorges Project Corporation.

Chairman Board of Investment Saleem Mandviwala and Li Yang’an signed the MoU for their respective sides. President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s Ambassador in China Masood Khan and several senior Chinese officials were present.

Masood said the dam, one of the eight hydel projects short-listed for construction by the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), will have a capacity of generating 7,000 megawatts of electricity.

Prior to the signing ceremony, Li Yang’an met President Zardari to discuss Pak-China cooperation in the hydel power generation sector.

Help: President Asif Ali Zardari called on China to help Pakistan tackle the energy crisis and sought Chinese assistance in hydel, thermal and solar power generation projects. The president also invited Chinese companies to carry out feasibility studies in the country in this regard.

Zardari recalled his last visit to China in February when he visited the Three Gorges Dam project and said that Pakistan had lots of potential for construction of hydel power projects on its rivers, for which it needed Chinese assistance and expertise.

He hoped that with the Chinese cooperation, Pakistan would soon be able to overcome its energy crisis.

Zardari also attended a presentation on small and medium sized dams, water conservation and irrigation by Zhejiang Design Institute of Water Conservancy and Hydroelectric Power.

“We need solar power for individual housing units and I want the Chinese to carry out a study in Pakistan,” the president remarked after the presentation.

Zardari said the government was ready to provide Chinese companies all possible assistance to set up power units that were not only cheap but also feasible for housing as well as commercial units.

Li Yueming, the president of the institute, said they had carried out studies of couple of medium-sized dams in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and constructed over 100 such dams around the world, especially in Africa, South America and Turkey.

In a meeting with President Zardari, President Zhejiang Zhengtai Solar Energy Science and Technology Company, Yang Liyou, said his company was ready to construct solar power generation projects in Pakistan, as country received plenty of sunlight around the year.

President Zardari said China would be the world’s next super power in trade and investment and hoped that Pakistan would become a gateway for Chinese exports to world markets through its ports. app

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg7_1