Islamabad
Pakistan and China have devised short, medium and long term plans for 5, 10 and 15 years respectively under the $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and railways network would be connected between the two countries in the final phase till 2030.
Pakistan’s delegation comprising of Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal and secretary railways is scheduled to visit China this week to finalise projects for connecting railways network between the two countries.
The long-term plan (LTP) for the CPEC prepared by Pakistani side which was also shared with Chinese high-ups states that the plan under the CPEC from 2025-2030 is to build the CPEC into an important platform for cooperation between China and Pakistan and other neighbouring countries; to help Pakistan to upgrade its economy and society and enhance exchanges with China; to help Xinjiang to open wider and lift its level of cooperation.
Under LTP from 2025-2030, both sides will connect rail network of China and Pakistan; extending the CPEC into the South and Central Asia; making use of the CPEC to enhance exchanges and cooperation with Iran and Afghanistan; extending the CPEC into the rest of western China in order to significantly lift the regional impact.
The short-term plan envisages early acquisition and projects given priority with timelines from 2015-2020.
Under short-term goals is to get the CPEC solidly underway, push forward matchmaking between the present industrial parks and the CPEC, promote interconnectivity among node cities, give impetus to the initial construction of platforms for cooperation and exchanges, provide more job opportunities and upgrade the quality of life along the corridor, and greatly help Kashgar for the highway to resume traffic towards the end of the year. It will focus to transform Karakorum Highway (KKH), clearing up the dammed lake in Raikot, and trying to open the road to year-round traffic; building the Multan-Sukkur Highway to deal with the transport bottleneck between Karachi and Lahore; starting construction of Gwadar Port - neighbouring Industrial Park, and improving its condition and infrastructure; strengthening the comprehensive capability of the Pakistani railway system for improved passenger and freight transportation; starting the construction of Islamabad Comprehensive Park and carrying out the exchanges and cooperation in culture, tourism and education.
Under medium-term plan of the CPEC, both the countries will execute projects from 2021 to 2025 to ensure the CPEC development more smoothly, increase traffic efficiency; promote the matchmaking between industrial parks and the CPEC and increase the marketability and convenience of products; to further increase the economic and social development level of regions along and close to the CPEC and significantly enhance the employment level and people’s livelihood; to significantly improve the economic and social environment in South Xinjiang and promote reform and opening up in this region.
The suggested focus under the CPEC will be enhancing the transport links between the surrounding areas of Kashgar to the CPEC, such as upgrading the highway between Yarkand and Taxkorgan, and increasing the transport links between Atushi and Kashgar; upgrading the KKH, strengthening the security and traffic capacity and improving speeds and create a smoother ride; further strengthening the traffic capability from Karachi to Lahore or Islamabad and pushing construction of a high-speed road; upgrading the level of the Pakistan’s railway system, including building the railway from Gwadar to Karachi or Sukkur and the highway from Islamabad to Karachi; improving the construction of all types of constructions, building the relatively complete industrial system and promoting the trade flows of industrial products; upgrading the Gwadar Port-neighbouring Industrial Park into the China-Pakistan Free Trade Zone, improving the policies and management system to allow wider opening.
By 2020, the corridor construction will have begun to take shape; major bottlenecks restraining Pakistani economic and social development removed in the main; corridor construction beginning to drive regional economic growth along the belt both in China and Pakistan. The year of 2025 is expected to see the corridor basically established, with a more complete industrial and functional economic system. People’s living conditions should be significantly improved, uneven regional economic development modified. By 2030, the corridor will be fully completed; the endogenous mechanism of sustainable economic growth will have taken shape; and the corridor playing a radiating and leading role in Central and South Asia,becoming an international economic zone of global influence.
The CPEC construction should fuel economic growth of Pakistan and is expected to speed it up by 1.5 percentage points on the original basis from 2016 to 2020, and another 1 percentage point from 2020 to 2030. From 2016 to 2020, the growth rate of China-Pakistan trade will reach 24 percent and that of bilateral direct investment being 25 percent; from 2020 to 2030, the speed of trade growth should be 16 percent and that of bilateral direct investment will be 20 percent. Industrial added value should exceed by 1.5 percentage points. A total number of 500,000 to 800,000 new jobs will be created. The length of newly built or upgraded roads and railways should reach 3,871km and 1,529.07km respectively. Power generated by newly built sources will reach 19.785 million KW, and length of optical fibre cable will reach 2,084km, it concluded.