Pakistan to increase electricity imports from Iran
Pakistan’s finance ministry says the country will increase its electricity imports from Iran to respond to growing demand for power in the country, especially in its key ocean port of Gwadar.
The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that members of the Economic Coordination Committee chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had agreed in a meeting convened earlier in the day to raise electricity purchases from Iran.
The statement said Pakistan had approved a renewal by two years of a contract for imports of 104 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Iran via a transmission line between Jakigur in Iran and Mand in Pakistan.
It said a new contract for imports of 100 MW of electricity until December 2024 from Iran through the newly-opened transmission line between Polan in Iran and Gabd in Pakistan had also been approved by the government in Islamabad.
The Polan-Gabd line was opened in May after Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif met at the zero border point in Iran’s southeast to open a series of trade and energy projects.
The new line will boost electricity supply to households and businesses in Pakistan’s Gwadar port where the country is implementing major development projects in a partnership with China.
Pakistan’s announcement on increased electricity imports from Iran came a week after the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian visited Islamabad.
It also comes amid growing efforts by Iran and Pakistan to boost their economic and trade ties, especially through arrangements that could avoid US sanctions on Tehran.
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