Currently, 46,500 Pakistanis are working on energy-related projects funded by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
According to a recent report titled “Overview of Pakistan’s Power Sector and its Future Outlook” published by China Three Gorges International, the CPEC power plants have performed admirably in increasing overall direct local employment (46,500) throughout Pakistan, despite the various economic fissures that exist in Pakistan (i.e., unequal underdevelopment, limited energy access, low human capital, and accompanying low productivity).
Furthermore, the skilled workforce benefits from on-site training by both local and international professionals in a professional work environment far superior to what they would receive working on other local projects, according to the report, raising the overall socioeconomic demographic of approximately 46 thousand families.
It stated that each CPEC power plant was built as an Independent Power Producer (IPP) in compliance with GOP Policies 2002, 2015, and AEDB Policies 2006 and 2019, and that all money was provided by foreign direct investment (FDI). The project companies arranged for all of the equity and private funding.
The whole investment in these enterprises (equity + private financing) was organised in US dollars by Chinese entities and immediately transferred to Pakistan (China EXIM Bank, China Development Bank, etc.).
Super-critical coal technology is used in coal-based projects. Recent engineering graduates lacked the necessary skills to meet the demands of technical personnel. As a result, Chinese management began focusing on hiring graduates from specific Pakistani universities.
The inaugural batches were chosen entirely from Islamabad’s National University of Sciences and Technology and Karachi’s NED University of Engineering and Technology (NUST). For 600 young, enthusiastic engineers, a six-month technical and managerial training programme in China was chosen. They returned to the project site after completing training sessions to take over critical operational roles.
Soon after being hired, the engineering workers were dispatched to China for six months of technical training to finish a module programme built expressly for the operating phase of these power plants. According to the survey, foreign workers have a three-year window to quit the Pakistani labour market and are largely employed in the maintenance industry.
According to the company’s goal and strategy, the proportion of Pakistani workers will increase from 68 to 80 percent over the next five years. Furthermore, for the next ten years, Pakistani labourers will solely (100%) operate factories.
The poll suggests that the foreign workers involved in this phase will return to their home country after 5 to 10 years due to the length of their contracts and the site’s continued expansion of its human resource base.
With this in mind, a law requiring all domestic employees to be newly qualified engineers from various technical institutes in Pakistan was the ideal technique of employing the workforce at the time.
A cooperation between China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Ltd (CSAIL) and the local government will create a technical training school for locals, among other new advanced technical training colleges that will open inside the grounds to offer free technical training to domestic workers.
In order to meet the technical workforce requirements of the Karot Hydropower project, the business recruited students from the local area and offered them scholarships to pursue electrical engineering degrees through a well-planned international scholarship programme. According to the news, Karot HPP has hired students who have successfully completed their degrees.
