The first investment of China’s US$40 billion Silk Road Fund has been unveiled as the 720MW Karot hydropower project in Pakistan.
In a statement, the two countries said the fund will inject capital into China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd, a subsidiary of the China Three Gorges Corporation, to help develop the Karot project on the Jhelum River, northeastern Pakistan.
According to newswire reports, construction of the project is expected to start the end of this year, with commissioning planned for 2020. Karot is a priority project within the broader China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative, proposed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in May 2013.
The Silk Road fund was developed to actively expand financing opportunities for projects under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and is key in supporting China’s "One Belt, One Road" initiative.
The Corridor is a proposed network of roads, railways and energy projects which would link southwest Pakistan’s deepwater Gwadar Port with northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Further investments in hydropower projects in the region are expected.
