Started in 1983, CMEC's power generation history in Pakistan

by Surra Kamran

BEIJING, Mar. 17 (China Economic Net)"My first impression of Pakistan is that it was very developed. The road there was so wide with lots of cars and tall buildings on the sides. It should be mentioned that at that time, cars were hardly seen  in Beijing,, most people walked or rode bikes," said Ju Limin, CMEC (China Machinery Engineering Corporation) former general representative of Pakistan. His first visit to Pakistan was in 1986 in Karachi, participating in the construction of the Jamshoro power station. "Although China was not rich at that time, our national policy is that we need to help our brother countries, and they will also help us in need." He said.

CMEC's first connection with Pakistan is Guddu thermal power station program, which is the first power station that China exported abroad. "This program is actually at the government level. At that time in China, exports were fully controlled by the Ministry of Foreign Trade. CMEC is a subordinary company of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. "

Ju Limin told us that the equipment exported by China was good and cheap. "At that time, China was at a very early stage of market economy. Many small manufacturers cut corners and sell poor-quality equipment. But China tried its best to support exports, export requirements were very strict."

Around the year 1994, there was a saying that within 3 lightbulbs in Pakistan, one was powered by electricity projects of CMEC. "It's not an exaggeration, because at that time only CMEC was allowed to do the electricity power station export in China. In Pakistan, people could hardly get assess to electricity. Only rich people can generate electricity in their own house with the diesel generator."

"According to my calculation, today's annual power generation of CMEC's projects in Pakistan should be 40 billion kWh. "Following Guddu power station, CMEC also constructed Jamshoro power station, SAIF combined cycle power station, Thar mining and power project, Tagana wind power project and participated in the NJ hydropower station program. "In Thar project, we exploited the local brown coal mine and used the coal in the electricity generation." Ju Jianmin said.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan, Ju Limin told us that agriculture, urban construction, refineries, chemical plants, and cement plants are all potential fields where China and Pakistan should cooperate in the next stage. "The infrastructure construction in Pakistan has already made great progress. In the future, except for electricity power projects, we should also focus on projects related to the national economy and people's livelihood."