Pakistan has decided to attract China for investment in the Diamer Bhasha Dam project. The project, which still requires over $3 billion in investment, has not garnered any interest from Saudi Arabia. The decision to attract China was made by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who has instructed the Ministry of Planning to include the Diamer Bhasha Dam in the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor project.
Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal from Pakistan and Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission will represent their respective countries in the upcoming joint cooperation committee meeting regarding CPEC. The meeting, scheduled for today, will assess the overall progress of CPEC through a video link.
This is the second opportunity for Pakistan to include the Diamer Bhasha Dam in CPEC, with the previous attempt being withdrawn in November 2017 due to stringent conditions imposed by China. Pakistan had offered Saudi Arabia to invest $1.2 billion in the project and provide an additional $2.3 billion on a ten-year loan for the investment.
According to a senior government official, the government faced a shortfall of $3.5 billion for this project and hoped that Saudi Arabia would show interest. However, there has been no response from Saudi Arabia on this matter. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has also issued instructions to utilize the Gwadar Port for government revenues, but due to a lack of facilities, the port has not been fully utilized yet.