PM Shehbaz Vows Maximum Security for Chinese Workers on Pakistan Energy Projects
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged on Friday that securing Chinese nationals working on Pakistan's power and infrastructure projects is the government's top priority. The vow follows deadly attacks on Chinese workers at sites including the Dasu Hydropower Project, where ongoing delays threaten thousands of megawatts of generation capacity Pakistan urgently needs to reduce load shedding.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared on Friday that protecting Chinese nationals in Pakistan — including engineers and technicians deployed on critical CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) power and infrastructure projects — is the government's highest priority, as a pattern of deadly attacks continues to shadow billions of dollars in Chinese energy investment across the country.
The Pledge and Its Energy Sector Context
Speaking at the Pakistan-China Pharmaceutical and Healthcare B2B Investment Conference in Islamabad, PM Shehbaz said:
Frequently Asked
Questions about this story
Which major energy projects in Pakistan employ Chinese workers?
Several large CPEC-linked projects rely on Chinese engineers and technicians, most notably the Dasu Hydropower Project (4,320 MW) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Chinese-operated Saindak copper and gold mine in Balochistan. Chinese firms also have roles in wind and solar projects feeding into the NTDC national grid.How do attacks on Chinese workers affect Pakistan's electricity supply?
When attacks force Chinese contractors to suspend operations or evacuate staff, project timelines slip. Delays on generation projects like Dasu mean fewer megawatts available to the national grid, which deepens the demand-supply gap that drives load shedding across DISCOs including MEPCO, PESCO, HESCO, and QESCO.What is the Dasu Hydropower Project and why does it matter for load shedding?
The Dasu Hydropower Project is a 4,320 MW run-of-river plant under construction on the Indus River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Once fully commissioned, it would be one of the single largest additions to Pakistan's generation capacity in years and could meaningfully cut the peak-hour shortfalls that currently push rural feeder outages to 8–12 hours a day in summer.Does the security situation around Chinese projects affect K-Electric customers in Karachi?
K-Electric customers are not directly connected to the NTDC grid in the same way as other DISCOs, so immediate supply disruptions at Balochistan or KP project sites have a limited direct effect on Karachi. However, nationwide generation shortfalls and tariff pressures eventually influence the broader cost structure that NEPRA oversees for all consumers.Can delays on Chinese-staffed power projects raise ordinary electricity bills?
Yes, indirectly. When large generation projects are delayed, Pakistan must rely more heavily on expensive short-run power purchases to meet demand. Those higher fuel and capacity costs flow through to consumer bills via the fuel cost adjustment and quarterly tariff adjustment mechanisms that NEPRA (the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) applies across all DISCOs.
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