rpant_gabba
Local Club Star
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2023
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Minister for Power Awais Leghari says contracts with Chinese power producers that built and run power plants in Pakistan need to be revised.
Islamabad owes more than $15 billion to Chinese power plant operators. It is seeking rescheduling of payments to gain financial breathing room in a bid to obtain a much-needed loan from the International Monetary Fund.
'I think the terms and conditions that we already have with the Chinese as far as their IPPs [independent power producers] are concerned, they need another look,' Leghari told VOA in an interview this week.
The power projects, set up mostly in the last decade, helped end hours-long blackouts. But contracts require that Pakistan pay for the entire generation capacity of each power plant, regardless of how much electricity is used. A failure to spur industrial growth that could help utilize additional power, and the inability to reduce transmission losses, has left Pakistan with huge bills to pay for unused and wasted power generation capacity in addition to repaying project loans.
Leghari and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb went to Beijing late last month to discuss power sector debt relief.
I bet if they can broadcast this negotiation with iron brother, Pak can raise some serious dough.
