Page 60 - IRANRptOct21

Pakistan to negotiate with Iran for Gwadar power supplies made on eve of eruption of anti-Chinese protests in port city
Iran’s energy ministry announces desalination projects amid Khuzestan drought protests
import from 70 to 100 MW of electricity to power Gwadar port city, where protests erupted last week against severe water and electricity shortages and claimed threats to livelihoods as part of a growing backlash by Pakistanis against projects under China’s multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road trade, investment and infrastructure programme.
The decision to start talks for Iranian electricity was reported by Pakistani media outlet The News on August 13, prior to the unrest. A 300 MW power plant under construction in Gwadar, on the Arabian Sea, is said to have been delayed for various reasons, making Iranian power the only option for the time being. That, however, in itself presents more difficulties as Iran, struggling to produce enough hydroelectricity amid drought, has in the past couple of years suspended electricity deliveries to Balochistan, the province where Gwadar and its deep sea port are located.
The protests in Gwadar, saw demonstrators including fishers and other local workers block roads in the coastal city in Balochistan—Pakistan’s most under-developed province—while burning tyres, chanting slogans and largely shutting down the city, to demand water and electricity and a stop to Chinese trawlers illegally fishing in the nearby waters and then taking the fish to China, the Guardian reported on August 20. The UK daily also reported that a suicide bomber killed two children and injured a Chinese engineer in an attack on Chinese nationals driving along the main expressway to the port, according to a senior Pakistani official.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which like other militant groups in the region accuses China of exploiting Balochistan’s mineral resources. It has previously attacked Chinese nationals and the Chinese consulate in Karachi.
Gwadar port is an integral part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC), in which China has invested billions in infrastructure projects in Pakistan. Islamabad handed Gwadar port to a Chinese-backed multinational corporation on a lease of 40 years.
Work is under way to build two desalination plants in Iran’s drought-stricken Khuzestan province on the Persian Gulf, IRNA reported the country’s energy ministry as saying on July 27.
The southwestern province has been the scene of nearly two weeks of street protests over water shortages amid the most prolonged drought it has suffered in more than 50 years. Several people have been killed in the unrest. Water supplies to farms, households and industry have been cut, with reservoir levels in the region perilously low. Demonstrations have rocked cities including majority Iranian Arab Ahvaz, with locals lamenting the lack of attention given to their woes by the government in Tehran 800 kilometres to the north.
The energy ministry said the two desalination systems, to be built in Choobdeh and Arvand, would have a water production capacity of 6,000 cubic metres per day. Three other desalination systems, in Abadan, Khorramshahr and Hindijan, with a water production capacity of 32,500 cubic metres, were currently in use, it added.
Currently, official information shows 304 cities in Iran are suffering from water shortages, with water consumption measured at 10% to 30% above water production.
CEO of the Water and Sewerage Company of Iran, Hamid Reza Janbaz, told a press conference that 702 villages in Khuzestan province “will soon have tap water” and should not have to “worry about water by autumn”.
“Out of 702 villages that have had water supply problems, about 500 villages will have their problems solved by the end of the year and soon the water supply to all these localities will be stable,” he added.
60 IRAN Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com