ISLAMABAD: More than a hundred Chinese engineers and support staff arrived in Islamabad from Urumqi on Friday morning in a special flight after being kept in isolation for 58 days to avoid contracting the dreaded coronavirus which China has largely managed to contain in the last couple of days.
Despite the disease’s outbreak in Pakistan, China’s Gezhouba Group sent 131 professionals to continue working on infrastructure and energy projects under the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the company’s public relation’s officer in Islamabad confirmed to Arab News.
He added that 28 more Chinese workers were expected to arrive in Islamabad Friday evening.
“The CPEC staff arrived at 9 a.m. today carrying the Pakistani and Chinese flags and raising slogans to display their commitment to the project despite the situation they faced back home or the unfolding situation in Pakistan,” Gezhouba’s Mustafa Kamal told Arab News.
“They were thoroughly examined before travel. They were also screened upon arrival by National Institute of Health officials and will be kept at an isolation facility in sector F-6/1 (of Islamabad) between 14 and 20 days. We have medical staff there and best available equipment from China, and the workers will undergo virus tests again before resuming their duties at project sites,” he added.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office and Ministry of Planning offered no comment when reached by Arab News.
According to Kamal, however, his company had apprised the Foreign Office and other relevant government departments of the workers’ arrival.
“The number of Chinese nationals was also reported to the Foreign Office,” he said, adding that all health and safety measures would be applied as the workers perform their duties, and a person with any disease symptoms would be immediately shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
Chinese CPEC workers arrive in Pakistan despite virus threat
https://arab.news/8r2rn
Chinese CPEC workers arrive in Pakistan despite virus threat
- 131 Chinese reached Islamabad Friday morning to work on the corridor projects, 28 more to join
- Will be kept at an isolation facility in Islamabad for 2-3 weeks, China’s Gezhouba Group official says
Pakistan PM orders accelerated privatization of power sector to tackle losses
- Tenders to be issued for privatization of three major electricity distribution firms, PMO says
- Sharif says Pakistan to develop battery energy storage through public-private partnerships
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s prime minister on Monday directed the government to speed up privatization of state-owned power companies and improve electricity infrastructure nationwide, as authorities try to address deep-rooted losses and inefficiencies in the energy sector that have weighed on the economy and public finances.
Pakistan’s electricity system has long struggled with financial distress caused by a combination of factors including theft of power, inefficient collection of bills, high costs of generating electricity and a large burden of unpaid obligations known as “circular debt.” In the first quarter of the current financial year, government-owned distribution companies recorded losses of about Rs171 billion ($611 million) due to poor bill recovery and operational inefficiencies, official documents show. Circular debt in the broader power sector stood at around Rs1.66 trillion ($5.9 billion) in mid-2025, a sharp decline from past peaks but still a major fiscal drain.
Efforts to contain these losses have been a focus of Pakistan’s economic reform program with the International Monetary Fund, which has urged structural changes in the energy sector as part of financing conditions. Previous government initiatives have included signing a $4.5 billion financing facility with local banks to ease power sector debt and reducing retail electricity tariffs to support economic recovery.
“Electricity sector privatization and market-based competition is the sustainable solution to the country’s energy problems,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at a meeting reviewing the roadmap for power sector reforms, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The meeting reviewed progress on privatization and infrastructure projects. Officials said tenders for modernizing one of Pakistan’s oldest operational hubs, Rohri Railway Station, will be issued soon and that the Ghazi Barotha to Faisalabad transmission line, designed to improve long-distance transmission of electricity, is in the initial approval stages. While not all power-sector decisions were detailed publicly, the government emphasized expanding private sector participation and completing priority projects to strengthen the electricity grid.
In another key development, the prime minister endorsed plans to begin work on a battery energy storage system with participation from private investors to help manage fluctuations in supply and demand, particularly as renewable energy sources such as solar and wind take a growing role in generation. Officials said the concept clearance for the storage system has been approved and feasibility studies are underway.
Government briefing documents also outlined steps toward shifting some electricity plants from imported coal to locally mined Thar coal, where a railway line expansion is underway to support transport of fuel, potentially lowering costs and import dependence in the long term.
State authorities also pledged to address safety by converting unmanned railway crossings to staffed ones and to strengthen food safety inspections at stations, underscoring broader infrastructure and service improvements connected to energy and transport priorities.
