Chinese company withdraws notification of Pakistani staff’s removal from Dasu project

Chinese company CGGC Dasu HPP on Saturday withdrew the notification regarding the removal of Pakistani employees working on the Dasu Hydropower Project.

The CGGC Dasu HPP issued a new notification due to the efforts of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) chairman.

According to 24NewsHD TV channel, the Chinese company has ensured to start working with WAPDA on the Dasu project soon.

Earlier, the Chinese company stopped work on the Dasu project and fired all Pakistani staff issuing a notification on July 16, 2021.

The Chinese company had stopped work after the deadly bomb blast a few days ago in which several Chinese engineers had been killed.

Through a statement, the Chinese company, CGGC Dasu HPP, has also immediately terminated the contract of all Pakistanis working on the project.

The terminated Pakistani workers will be given gratuity, the current month’s salary and 14-day pay as per notification of the company.

The company also thanked all those staff members who helped after the bus attack. It said they were compelled to suspend the work after the deadly incident.

Last Wednesday, nine Chinese workers were among 12 people killed when a blast on a bus sent it careering down a ravine in Kohistan.

The bus was carrying Chinese engineers, surveyors, and mechanical staff to the Dasu dam site in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is under construction.

A further 28 Chinese nationals were also injured.

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan in a statement had said that "a certain project of a Chinese firm in Pakistan suffered an attack, which caused the deaths of Chinese nationals".

The security of Chinese workers has long been an issue of concern in Pakistan, where Beijing has poured in tens of billions of dollars in recent years, and large numbers of Chinese nationals are now based in the country to supervise and build infrastructure projects.

Reporter Awais Kiyani