Govt striving to clear $2bn Chinese IPPs dues

With payables touching almost Rs550 billion ($1.98bn), the government is contemplating finalising a schedule of payments to Chinese Independent Power Producers (IPPs) before convening the 13th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. This will be followed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing, expected in the first week of June. Informed sources told Dawn that the Chinese side had this time insisted Prime Minister Sharif’s visit should follow the 13th JCC so that outstanding issues are settled and the roadmap for cooperation under CPEC-2 is finalised during the high-profile state-level meeting. While the PM visit is targeted for the first week of June, the JCC meeting has yet to be scheduled because of pending issues.