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Transactions - JANUARY 12, 2017

China to build £1.2b power line across Pakistan

by Jody Barhanovich

Chinese electric utility company State Grid Corp. plans to build a £1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) power line across Pakistan. The project is the latest in a series of big Chinese investments, most of which fall under a planned $55 billion worth of projects for a China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The power line will enable the transmission of 4,000 megawatts of electricity from the country’s north to south, linking the national grid between the southern Pakistani town of Matiari, near a new power station, to the eastern city of Lahore, some 620 miles apart. News sources predict construction will begin later this month and should take around 20 months to complete.

Pakistan has been struggling to provide enough power to its nearly 200 million citizens, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has vowed to solve the crisis by 2018. He inaugurated Pakistan’s fourth nuclear power plant on Wednesday, a joint collaboration with China that adds 340 megawatts to the national grid as part of the government’s efforts to end the energy deficit.

State Grid Corp.’s core business plan is to build and operate power grids and provides secure and reliable power supply for the development of the society, according to its website.

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