LAHORE, Sept 3: The renowned Northwest Electric Power Design Institute (NWEPDI) of China opened its first office in Pakistan here on Tuesday.

Leading businessmen dealing in power from the government and private sectors, including NTDCL MD Ziaur Rehman, Chief Engineer Arshad Chaudhry, Nespak GM Zahid Khan, Barqaab Vice-President Riaz Beg and Jiltec Engineering CEO Dr Saleem Jilani attended the inaugural ceremony.

Energy Minister Malik Sher Ali Khan said the PML-N was determined to overcome loadshedding. For this purpose, in addition to increasing power generation it had launched an aggressive campaign against electricity and gas theft costing up to Rs250 billion annually to the country.

He said as a result of measures taken by the government electricity generation had been increased by over 1,700MW. He said the newly-established Chinese institute would open up new vistas of mutual cooperation between business entities of China and Pakistan in the energy sector.

NWEPDI Overseas Project President Zaho Wen Xue in his welcome address said it was an established principle of the Chinese leadership to develop a sound relationship with Pakistan and push forward the ties among power generation firms of the two nations. The Chinese engineers would work hard alongside their Pakistani contemporaries to further strengthen existing bonds of cooperation in the energy sector.

He said the NWEPDI had already taken part in a series of work in designing, procuring, constructing and testing projects of MG-I in Pakistan. With the opening of the institute’s office, Chinese electricity experts would be a part of strength of the electricity grid in Pakistan, he added.

NWEPDI President Li Xiu An observed ever since its inception in October 1956, the institute had attained the status of one of the top companies in China’s power sector and had designed 261 major power projects both at home and aboard with a total capacity of 126.063MW, which was 14 per cent of the total power generation of China.

NWEPDI Vice-President Zheng Shu Gui while giving a presentation on achievements of the institute said setting up a Pakistan office was a milestone that showed Pakistan’s power sector was very important for China.