China starts work on Matiari-Lahore transmission line

2019-9-11

 China has started work on the Matiari-Lahore high-voltage direct transmission line project valued at $1.7 billion.

To kick off the project, a Chinese company has shipped power equipment to Pakistan for the country’s first transmission project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework.

Fushun Electric Porcelain Manufacturing Company (FEPMC) shipped 30 tons of direct current (DC) 660 kilovolts of Zinc Oxide Lightning Cooler to Pakistan for its grid project.

Wang Youxue, member of the Party Work Committee of the Shen Fu New District of China’s Liaoning province said that the Fushun Electric Porcelain Manufacturing Company participated in the project as it was one of the key cooperation projects of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Youxue said the DC transmission project is also the first landing project for Pakistan to open foreign investment in the field of power transmission and transformation.

The total investment of the project is $1.658 billion and it will be officially put into operation in 2021.This is the country’s first private sector transmission project under CPEC and will transmit more than 4,000 megawatts of coal-based electricity from projects in Sindh to Punjab’s main grid.

Besides the transmission project, the Private Power Infrastructure Board is currently facilitating the implementation of power projects having a cumulative capacity of 10,934 megawatts under CPEC, which include various hydro and coal-fired projects.