Pakistan, China ink agreement of $1.5bn Azad Pattan Hydel Power Project.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan and China on Monday signed an agreement for the construction of $1.5 billion Azad Pattan Hydel Power Project.

Prime Minister Imran Khan witnessed the signing ceremony.

Addressing the ceremony, the prime minister said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project will prove to be a milestone in the country's development and prosperity.

'The CPEC is the future of Pakistan,' he said.

The premier further said time would prove the long term benefits of the CPEC project, which was based upon economic cooperation between Pakistan and China.

He said Pakistan could learn a lot from China in realms of economic progress and prosperity as the country was fast emerging as world economic power.

He expressed the optimism that in the future, they would learn from the Chinese experiences. The CPEC had different phases with various bright aspects for prosperity and progress, he added.

Referring to the signing of the agreement, PM Imran said it was part of the investment to complete a power project based upon the clean energy.

Unlike past, the project would not burden the people, he said and mentioned the previous governments' costly projects which were made functional with imported fuel, thus increasing the cost of energy manifold and stressing the local currency.

The prime minister said due to those policies, the power industry ran into losses impacting the consumers.

He regretted that the country could not compete with its neighbouring countries in terms of generating the low-cost energy.

He said the hydro-power generation was considered as a big source of clean energy which was also in line with his government's policy of 'Clean and Green...