A Chinese company working on the Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project has suspended work indefinitely after the Shangla attack which took the lives of five Chinese nationals on Tuesday.
The company laid off 2000 Pakistani workers that were employed for the hydro-project. The suspension notice was issued by administration of Power Construction Corporation of China.
The Chinese engineers were targeted by a suicide bomber while they were travelling in a bus on the Karakoram Highway in the Bisham area. As of now, no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The notification cited “security reasons” for laying off the major workforce for an indefinite period of time.
Dawn news contacted the general secretary of the Awami Labour Union at the Tarbela project Aslam Adil and he confirmed that under labour laws, the workers who lost their jobs would continue to receive half of their salaries until they are called back.
He further stated that this event won’t cause a “long delay” in the project, expected to be completed by 2026.
