Days after the suicide attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, in which five Chinese engineers were killed, Chinese companies have temporarily suspended civil work at the sites of the Dasu and Diamer-Bhasha Dams due to security concerns, Geo News reported, citing The News, on Friday.
This comes a day after work was also suspended at the Tarbela fifth Extension Hydropower Project.
On March 26, the suicide attack in Shangla claimed the lives of at least six people including five Chinese engineers, working on the Dasu Dam.
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The victims were killed when an explosive-laden vehicle hit the bus carrying them on the Karakoram Highway in the Bisham area on Tuesday.
Around 991 Chinese engineers were working on both projects, while the local staff has been told to stay at home till further instructions, an official working on the project confirmed to the publication, as reported by Geo News.
Notably, around 741 Chinese and 6,000 locals are working on the 4,320 MW Dasu Dam in District Upper Kohistan. However, work on the Mohmand Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is continuing with Chinese engineers still working at the site.
Meanwhile, the suspension of work on the 1530 megawatt Tarbela extension project (T5) was notified by the manager (administration) of the Power Construction Corporation of China.
The manager also revealed in the notification that the project’s “all site workers and office staff members had been laid off until further orders due to security reasons.” He added only the staff members called by the heads of their respective sections would come to work.
It is pertinent to note that Tuesday’s attack on the Chinese workers was second of its nature. The first such attack was carried out on July 14, 2021, a few kilometres from Dasu Dam’s site in Kohistan, leaving nine Chinese engineers and four Pakistani workers dead while over 23 sustained injuries, Dawn reported.