The $150 million electric-vehicle assembly plant that BYD is building with Hub Power Company at Gharo in Sindh has slipped again (Dawn).
The project
| | | |—|—| | Investment | $150m, of which $90m is project financing | | Location | Gharo, Sindh | | Capacity | 25,000 units a year, scalable to 50,000 | | Ownership | Hubco holds 50pc of the joint venture with BYD Auto Industry Company |
The investment figures come from Hubco management, via Topline Securities.
The delay
The plant was originally to be operational in the first half of FY26. That was missed. The revised target was the second half of 2026 — and the year is already two months into that window.
Mega Motor Company, the joint venture running the project, did not respond to questions about why it has been delayed, its current status, or its localisation plans.
Why the silence matters more than the slippage
Construction projects slip. What is unusual is a listed company’s joint venture declining to say anything at all about a flagship foreign investment.
Localisation is the substantive question. An assembly plant that imports complete kits and screws them together delivers jobs and a ribbon-cutting; one that builds a local supplier base changes the industry. Pakistan’s auto policy has repeatedly produced the first while promising the second, and the operator’s refusal to discuss localisation plans is the detail an investor would want explained.
The context
BYD is the largest electric-vehicle manufacturer in the world by volume, and Pakistan is a market where fuel costs — petrol at Rs345.87, diesel at Rs378.05 after a Rs7.64 rise since 31 August — make the EV case on paper.
The obstacle is electricity, not petrol. Nepra added Rs2.58 a unit to bills this week. An EV proposition in a market with rising tariffs and load management is a harder sell than the fuel-price comparison suggests, which may be part of what is being reconsidered behind the silence.
Neither company has given a new date.
[Image: Reuters via Dawn]
