PAKISTAN – Chinese bank to provide funds for hydropower project

LAHORE: The EXIM Bank of China has signed an agreement with the government of Pakistan to provide $448 million for the strategically important 969MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project.

The agreement, a significant development in the efforts to obtain funds for the remaining work on the project, was signed last week during Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s visit to Pakistan.

The project is being constructed on River Neelum in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Besides generating much-needed low-cost hydel electricity to help mitigate power shortages, the project will also enable Pakistan to establish its priority rights on the river waters.

Wapda is striving to complete the project by 2016 according to its construction schedule.

At present, construction work at different sites of the project is moving forward satisfactorily. Of the combined 67-kilometre tunnels, 34.24km long tunnels (51 per cent) have so far been excavated. Work on excavation of under-ground powerhouse has been completed by 75.24 per cent, on transformers hall by 96.33 per cent and on de-sander of the project by 95 per cent.

Construction of Nauseri Bridge over River Neelum and second stage diversion of the river have been completed.

After completion, the project will contribute 5.15 billion units of cheap electricity to the national grid every year. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at about Rs45 billion.

Courtesy: DAWN
http://dawn.com/2013/05/29/chinese-bank-to-provide-funds-for-hydropower-project/

With Wary Eye on the U.S., China Courts India

On the back of this week’s visit, both Prime Minister Singh and Premier Li are due to visit each others respective rivals. Next week, Singh is headed to Japan, which is engaged in an increasingly edgy dispute with China over a group of islets in the seas between them. Li goes to Pakistan, where he is to sign agreements to develop the Chinese-managed Gwadar port. India has often been nervous about Chinese agreements with its neighbors that are not strictly military but could be leveraged in a conflict.

By REUTERS

NEW DELHI — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, smiling and effusive, was out to smooth ruffled feathers in India this week, promising to ease tensions and increase trade between Asia’s fastest growing economies in his first trip overseas since taking office.

“China will make your dream come true,” Li told a banquet hall filled with Chinese and Indian business executives in the financial capital of Mumbai as he wound up his visit on Tuesday.

China’s overtures, which come amid worries in Beijing that it is being encircled by the United States and its allies, however met with a cool response.

India has been shaken by a recent border spat with China and is cautious about Beijing’s friendship with rival Pakistan, where Li flies on Wednesday. New Delhi is also concerned about a ballooning trade deficit with China and a flood of cheap Chinese-made goods undercutting local manufacturers.

Six JF-17’s to escort Chinese PM into Pakistan

By APP
ISLAMABAD: Six JF-17 Thunder fighters of the Pakistan Air Force will escort the aircraft of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as it enters Pakistani air space on Wednesday, at the start of his two-day State visit.The JF-17s — a symbol of deep Sino-Pakistan friendship – will guide the special Air China Boeing 747 aircraft of the Chinese dignitary to the Nur Khan Air Base, where a 21-gun salute will herald his arrival.

Read more » The Express Tribune
http://tribune.com.pk/story/552333/six-jf-17s-to-escort-chinese-pm-into-pakistan/