that have been finalised and signed recently.
The sources were confident that the projects under the Pak-China Economic Corridor would not be allowed to become a victim of usual delays and bureaucratic red-tape. It is said that the major chunk of US$46 billion agreements is pure Chinese investment mainly in the energy sector. Such investment would not be reflected on the loan book of Pakistan.
The transport-related projects, it is said, would be completed through soft loans to be offered by China. These loans would be concessional and not commercial. Among the projects signed under the soft loan system and included in the early harvest projects are 320-kilometre-long Sukkur-Multan motorway, 120-kilometre-long Thakot to Hawalian road, upgrading of Karakoram Highway, 19-kilometre-long Gwadar port East Bay Expressway Project and the project to develop Gwadar and establish an airport there. These projects, it is said, will cost around US$4 billion.
The sources said that presently the Pak-China authorities are working on the feasibility of Peshawar-Karachi railway system, which is a long-term project involving US$4 billion soft loan. China wants timely completion of all these projects including the early operationalisation of the Gwadar Port as the corridor offers China an alternative route to the Arabian Sea, reducing its dependence on the maritime route.
The proposed corridor will connect the northwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang with the Pakistani port of Gwadar through a network of roads, and provide Pakistan with much-needed economic infrastructure, especially power-generation plants.
Such is the great future of this corridor for Pakistan and China that soon after its announcement during the Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad, India got really disappointed and started criticising the project as a Pak-China move to corner India.
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