SWABI: The ties between Pakistan and China would strengthen further in the coming years as construction of the fourth extension project Tarbela Dam by a Chinese company was the example of good relations between the two countries, said Adviser to Prime Minister Amir Muqam.

Mr Muqam visited the under-construction project at Tarbela Dam here on Thursday and said prime minister would inaugurate completion of the fourth extension project which would generate 1,410 megawatts electricity to increase the total generation capacity of Tarbela Hydropower Station to 4,888 megawatts.

He said that completion of the project would help in reducing power loadshedding in the country. It was expected that there would be no loadshedding in the country till completion of the constitutional tenure of PML-N government, he added.

Mr Muqam said that after the completion of fourth extension, work would be started on the fifth extension project of Tarbela Dam.

Earlier Ameen Khan, chief engineer of the project, briefed Mr Muqam and told him that all the requirements for the fifth project were finalised. Mr Muqam was assured that work on the project would be completed according to the schedule and it would not be delayed.

Meanwhile, most of the local leaders of PML-N were not informed about the visit of Mr Muqam to the district.

PML-N district general secretary Dildar Khan told this correspondent that he knew nothing about the visit of Mr Muqam to the district.

PML-N district president Iftikhar Ahmad Khan said that he was in Peshawar for an important work but he didn’t know about the visit of their leader to Tarbela Dam. Both the leaders said that Mr Muqam might not want to “disturb” them. Whenever he visited the district in the past he informed them, they added.

However, some other leaders of the party said that it was unjust to keep them in the dark about the visit. “We always delivered according to the wishes of the party leaders and it is their responsibility to inform us about their visit to the district,” said a local leader of PML-N.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2016