BEIJING: The responsibility of Chinese enterprises in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is not only power supply and infrastructure construction, but also social responsibility such as local prosperity, employment promotion, and green development, an official said on Thursday.

Chief Representative of PowerChina in Pakistan Yang Jianduo said that in accordance with their original functions, Chinese enterprises have contributed to domestic electricity supply and achieved remarkable fruits.

“PowerChina has two most important projects in Pakistan. One of them is Diamer-Bhasha Dam, which is the largest water conservancy project in Pakistan,” he said, adding: “The concrete dam ranks first in volume and height in the world. Another one is the Qasim project, which is Pakistan’s largest power project, supplying 10 per cent of the country’s electricity,” Yang said in an interview.

In addition to the construction projects, the Chinese enterprises in CPEC are also pursuing transition to green development, he said.

“Achieving sustainable development in host countries is also an important responsibility of [the] Chinese enterprises under the BRI framework. In Pakistan, PowerChina has a 60 per cent share of the clean energy market.”

“For example, the Dawood Wind Power project is an important clean energy project in Pakistan, which saves 122,000 tonnes of carbon emissions/annum. Although there is a problem of electricity instability in the development of new energy, we believe that it can be gradually improved and resolved. To this end, we still unswervingly promote the development of new energy,” he added.

The Chinese enterprises have also taken promoting employment as one of their major social responsibilities, he said, adding: “We currently employ 8,000 local staff in Pakistan during the pandemic. In the future, we will further localise and expand the recruitment of local staff, and provide more jobs to the local people. In addition, talent training is also an important measure.”

For example, the Qasim project has sent 200 outstanding Pakistani graduates to China for training in two batches, the PowerChina chief representative said, adding: “After the training, they are all employed in key positions in PowerChina.”

At the end of the interview, Yang congratulated Pakistan and China on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, and promised they were willing to stress more on social responsibility such as local prosperity, employment promotion, and green development.

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