ISLAMABAD: Chinese firm China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) has announced to resume work on the Dasu Hydropower project on Monday (today) that was halted several months ago due to security concerns.
The Chinese company has expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements and Chinese engineers and staff have arrived at the dam site. The company had suspended its operations on July 14, 2021, after a suicide attack on a bus carrying company’s employees in the Upper Kohistan district, killed at least 13 persons including nine Chinese engineers and injured several others.
According to reports, a security adviser from China visited the project sites for the second time on October 18 and held final meetings with Pakistani officials to review the security arrangements.
The company announced on Sunday that it is resuming construction work that had been halted due to the attack. It issued a statement saying the security protection of Dasu project area had been substantially improved by WAPDA and a phase-wise resumption of work would begin on October 25, 2021.
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The company has also instructed all Pakistani workers to be prepared to report back to work. It said employees will be notified on the resumption of the work via telephone. Meanwhile, employees of the Chinese company have been asked to bring results of the COVID-19 test along with vaccination records.
The circular said that employees should also bring a clearance certificate from the local police. The specific return time of every staff would be determined by a phone call from the Chinese leader of the department.
Three other Chinese companies have already started work on the Dasu project. The government had signed an agreement in 2017 with Gezhuoba Group Company (CGGC) for the construction of the 4320MW dam. The physical work started in 2019 while the project is expected to be completed in 2023.
A team of Chinese investigators had arrived in Pakistan soon after the incident and interviewed a number of workers and other staff members of the project. Days later, the Chinese firm announced that it would continue carrying out work on the project after the visiting Chinese investigation team inspected the site.
