Pakistan has approved plans for a five million gallons a day (23,000 m3/d) seawater reverse osmosis plant in Gwadar, a port city in the southwest, reports Express Tribune.

Pakistan’s Central Development Working Party cleared the way for project, having earlier asked a committee led by Planning Commission of Pakistan member, Malik Ahmad Khan, to examine feasibility.

The project’s estimated cost of PKR 5,071 million ($48.4 million) is expected to be 90 per cent met by China, since Gwadar is a key location on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The plant is expected to supply a third of water in Gwadar, particularly meeting the needs of the city’s industrial zone. The city also takes water from Ankara Kaur Dam, and from a desalination plant in Balochistan.

The plant is likely to be sold to a private investor on a turnkey basis.

The announcement was part of a package of seven projects approved by CDWP worth a total of PKR 36 billion ($343 million), including five health sector projects, and an energy project.