Chinese power plants built under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are waiting for Rs. 498 billion from the Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guarantee (CPPA-G), according to sources cited by Business Recorder and reported by ProPakistani on October 19, 2026. CPPA-G is the government body that buys electricity from private power producers, known as IPPs.
The latest plea came from Port Qasim Electric Power Company (PQEPC). In a letter dated September 29, 2026, it said it alone is owed Rs. 79 billion. The companies have written to CPPA-G repeatedly, and the issue has reached the Prime Minister’s Office several times, the sources said.
Port Qasim warns that late payment could lead to loan defaults
PQEPC chief executive Wang Dongfeng wrote to the ministers for finance, planning and energy. The company runs a 1,320-megawatt coal plant. Its dues of Rs. 79 billion ($285.4 million) have been overdue for more than six months and could grow, the letter said.
The company warned that long delays could hurt the project’s finances and threaten power generation. It also said they could trigger defaults on its loans, which are backed by a sovereign guarantee, meaning the government has promised to cover them. PQEPC’s Chinese and Qatari shareholders are reportedly worried too. The company also argued that its tariff is lower than that of oil-fired and imported-gas plants, so paying it on time helps keep cheaper power on the grid.
Sahiwal plant is owed Rs. 80 billion and has been in a dispute for four years
The 1,320-megawatt Sahiwal coal plant, run by China Huaneng, is reportedly owed about Rs. 80 billion. The company says officials offered it a “give-and-take” deal. Under it, deductions from its capacity payments, the fixed amount paid for keeping a plant ready to generate, would be cleared only if it accepted other conditions. Business Recorder reported the complaint earlier. China Huaneng has also asked the Prime Minister’s Office to step in, and the matter has reportedly dragged on for around four years.
Port Qasim and Sahiwal together account for about Rs. 159 billion. By that count, roughly Rs. 339 billion is owed to the other CPEC power projects.
The total has hardly moved in a year
In August 2025, Business Recorder put CPPA-G’s debt to Chinese plants at about Rs. 475 billion. At a NEPRA hearing in December 2025, officials said around Rs. 500 billion was owed to Chinese producers, according to Profit. Today’s Rs. 498 billion is close to that level. It is still just below the record Rs. 529 billion that Express Tribune reported in 2024.
Port Qasim’s own figure tells the same story. It was Rs. 87.5 billion on June 30, 2025, and Rs. 81 billion a month later. Now it is Rs. 79 billion, and the delay is still described as more than six months. These numbers come from different reports and may not count exactly the same items.
Part of the reason is a standoff over discounts. Earlier this year, Business Recorder reported that the cabinet would not release money from a Rs. 1.225 trillion bank facility to CPEC projects unless they agreed to a discount. The Chinese companies had not agreed. Bloom Pakistan, citing News18, reported that they also refused to waive about Rs. 170 billion in late-payment charges.
ProPakistani noted that nothing in the available information shows either plant has defaulted on a loan or stopped producing electricity. The reports did not include a reply from CPPA-G or the Power Division.
