300MW Gwadar plant's inauguration in first week of Nov.

ISLAMABAD -- Vice chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) China will inaugurate 300MW coal power plant at Gwadar during first week of November.

The meeting of Joint Cooperation Committee of CPEC is scheduled during first week of November and the vice chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) China will be arriving to Pakistan one day ahead of the meeting, said Zafar Hassan secretary Planning Development and Reforms.

Talking exclusively to The Nation, the secretary said that there were rumors and misconception that the present government has abandoned CPEC which was not true. 'We have cleared the plate of the pending projects and resolved the issues related to corridor projects.'

The CPEC has entered into a new phase. He said that four new Joint Working Groups under CPEC, which include JWG on industrial cooperation, CPEC International Cooperation Coordination Working Group, Agriculture JWG and JWG on socio-economic development, were formed.

Regarding the 9th JCC, scheduled to be held during first week of November, the secretary informed that one day before the JCC there will be senior officers meeting (SOM) where they will discuss the decisions of the various Joint Working Groups of the CPEC and make recommendations regarding the deliverables to the JCC. The JCC meeting, which is jointly chaired by federal minister for Planning from Pakistan and vice chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC), will be attended by provincial chief ministers and federal ministries and divisions. Zafar Hassan said that ML-I, SEZs, Karachi Circular Railways, Kohala Hydro project and Azad Pattan Hydro project will be discussed in the upcoming JCC meeting.

He said the government has already established a financing committee on ML-I. In JCC meeting, the financing structure, loans, interest on loans and tenure of return will be discussed. On SEZs, secretary planning informed that that the...