Japan to assist Pak in developing 2 power plants

Islamabad: Japan has agreed to help set up two power plants of 500-MW each to Pakistan.

A 15-member visiting Japanese business delegation, which met Minister for Finance Syed Naveed Qamar here on Wednesday, also expressed its willingness to further increase investment in the automobile industry of Pakistan.

Japan’s Marubeni Company is expected to install two power plants within a period of one year.

The company also offered to provide 75 GE American railway locomotives at a cost of $200 million.

The head of the delegation, Mr Makoto Kakebayashi, said that the government of Japan and the Japanese investors were also keen to modernise basic infrastructure in Pakistan through Official Development Assistance (ODA), JICA and JPIC funding in health, education, water and communication sectors.

He said projects of Khanki Barrage and Karachi Circular Railway were already under way.

A report of the Pakistan-Japan Business Forum’s joint study would be submitted to the Government of Pakistan by the end of the year to greatly facilitate Japanese investment in the country, he said.

Syed Naveed Qamar, who is also the Minister for Privatisation and Investment, assured Japanese investors to soon establish special economic zone for Japanese investors on a priority basis, which would be equipped with basic infrastructure.