Pakistan and China signed a $4.8 billion deal Tuesday to build what would be the seventh Chinese nuclear power plant in the South Asian nation.
The 1,200-megawatt project will be installed in the central Pakistani city of Chashma, where Beijing already has built four nuclear power generation units with a collective output of nearly 1,230 megawatts.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif oversaw Tuesday's signing of the memorandum of understanding between China National Nuclear Cooperation and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.
According to the agreement, the Chinese company will employ its HPR 1000 technology, known as HPR1000 or Hualong One, to construct the nuclear power unit. It will be the third facility in Pakistan to feature the HPR 1000, or pressurized water reactor technology.
"Investment from China in this project to the tune of $4.8 billion sends a loud and clear message that Pakistan is a place where Chinese companies and investors continue to show their trust and faith," Sharif said.
He thanked Beijing for offering a more than $100 million discount for what is named the Chashma 5 power plant. The work on the project was initially planned to start a couple of years ago, but Sharif said the Chinese partners had not rescheduled costs despite the long delay.
"This project is part of our energy security plan to diversify the energy mix with a focus on ensuring the provision of cheap electricity to the industry & relief to the common man,” the Pakistani prime minister wrote on Twitter after the ceremony.
Sharif's coalition government is struggling to deal with unprecedented economic challenges facing Pakistan, including a balance of payments crisis.
China has recently also constructed two nuclear power plants in the southern port city of Karachi, each with a 1,100-megawatt generation capacity.
Pakistani officials say the two Chinese-supplied third-generation Hualong One reactors, known as K2 and K3, cost roughly $10 billion. They are equipped with "advanced safety and foolproof security features" and have enhanced Pakistan's nuclear energy production to more than 3,500 megawatts.
"K2 and K3 are fully functional and supply 2,200 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. Similarly, nuclear power plants at Chashma are contributing more than 1,300 megawatts," a PAEC spokesman told VOA on Tuesday.
Canada helped Pakistan build its first nuclear power plant in 1972 in Karachi, producing about 80 megawatts of electricity. It is expected to be shut down soon after having served its purpose for about the full extent of the planned operation.
China maintains close defense and economic relations with staunch ally Pakistan. It has invested more than $20 billion in building road networks, power plants, and ports over the past decade under what is known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC.
Officials in both countries say the collaboration, an extension of Beijing's global Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, has created tens of thousands of jobs and ended Pakistan's crippling energy crisis.
