ISLAMABAD: (CNI MONITERING) Three days after five Chinese nationals were killed in a suicide attack in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, two more Chinese companies have suspended work on hydropower projects, a media report said on Friday in accordance.
The development came a day after the Power Construction Corporation of China (PCCC) suspended civil works and laid off more than 2,000 workers at the Tarbela 5th Expansion Hydropower Project in Swabi district of KP province.
Cheney Dasu was working on the hydropower project, which is about 300 km north of Islamabad
The 4,320 MW project is being built by China Gazuba with funding from the World Bank, Tuesday’s attack was the second suicide attack on personnel working on a Chinese-backed hydropower project since 2021.
After the Tarbela project, Chinese companies have suspended civil work on Dasu and Diamer Bhasha dams due to security concerns and around 1,000 Chinese engineers working on both projects have stopped work.
The News International reported that local staff of both projects have been instructed to stay at home until further orders.
An official working on the Dasu Dam project confirmed that the Chinese company has stopped work and local staff have been asked to stay home. About 741 Chinese and 6000 local people were working in this project.
Similarly, General Manager of 4,800 MW Diamar Bhasha Dam (DBD) Nazakat Hussain also confirmed the suspension of the Chinese company and said that around 500 Chinese nationals are engaged in DBD but the Frontier Works Organization staff is around 6,000 locals. contains the work.
However, 250 Chinese engineers are still working on the Mohmand Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the newspaper quoted the dam’s general manager Asim Rauf as saying. “The Chinese have expressed satisfaction over the security situation in the project area and are working on the site,” he told The News International.
Thousands of Chinese officials are working in Pakistan on several projects under the USD 60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) (CNI. MONITERING)
