FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2003
China to sell second N-plant to Pakistan
AP
ISLAMABAD : China will sell Pakistan a second nuclear power plant next year to help solve its energy problems, government officials said on Wednesday, as a senior Chinese leader arrived for an official visit.
The power plant will be built in Chashma, 225 kilometers southwest of Islamabad , and will be able to generate 600 megawatts of power, two Pakistani officials said on condition of anonymity. China , a longtime ally, sold Pakistan a nuclear power plant with the same capacity in the 1990s that also was built in Chashma.
On Wednesday, Jia Qinglin, the head of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a nine-member panel at the pinnacle of China 's power structure, arrived in Islamabad on a four-day visit. Jia, who is accompanied by an 80-member delegation, is due to meet Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and President Gen Pervez Musharraf during his visit.
Musharraf visited China last month. Chinese officials said then that the two countries had "reached consensus" about a joint nuclear power plant project. In an arrival statement, Jia said the China-Pakistan friendship serves both countries' interests and "contributes to peace, stability and development in the region." The Pakistani officials said that Jamali met with Pakistani nuclear scientists on Tuesday and asked them to accelerate work on the new project next year.
The officials refused to provide details about the Chinese deal, including the price and when it was reached. Pakistani officials often refuse to be quoted by name about nuclear matters. Pakistan 's first nuclear power plant was built in the southern city of Karachi in the 1970s with Canadian help. It was shut down a few years ago, and Pakistani scientists have since been trying to replace it.
Pakistan became a nuclear-armed nation in 1998 when it detonated nuclear devices in response to nuclear tests by archrival India . Pakistan has said its nuclear military program is to protect its security, and its nuclear power plants have been monitored closely by the international community. During his visit, Jia will visit a Pakistani hydropower project and a heavy machinery complex, the state Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported. He will also visit the eastern city of Lahore , it said.
Copyright © 2003 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.