ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal Monday said China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was just a piece of paper and it was the PML-N government which translated this dream into reality.
He said Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project has been approved as CPEC project while similar projects for Quetta and Peshawar will be reviewed upon receiving technical feasibility reports of the project.
“Agriculture, poverty alleviation, tourism and culture and improvement in people’s livelihood had been added in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) long-term plan (LTP) to ensure the wellbeing of the local communities,” the minister said while briefing the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC. The long-term plan of CPEC was agreed by both Pakistan and China at the last meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on November 21.
The Parliamentary Committee on CPEC met here under the chairmanship of Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed. Ahsan Iqbal said the LTP was approved after 18-month long consultation process and it was shared with all the provinces that endorsed it before it was sent to China and now it is an official document of CPEC. Agricultural research would be undertaken so that agricultural products could be value-added with modern technology from China. Since Chinese tourists are increasing in large number, it was decided to promote tourism projects with the building of tourist resorts on Makran coast and there will also be encouragement of people to people exchanges between Pakistan and China within the framework of culture and education. In January 2018, a delegation of Pakistan’s exporters would go to China to enhance Pakistan’s export potential and this delegation is being facilitated by the government of Pakistan, the minister informed.
During the current JCC meeting, the minister briefed the committee that all the chief ministers were present as well as, for the first time, representatives of chambers of commerce and industry. He also informed that the ground-breaking of Gwadar International Airport will be performed in March, 2018.
The meeting was informed that contrary to the speculation in the media, the reports of shelving three infrastructure projects is not correct, rather, the Chinese side was reviewing financial mechanism of these projects and these would be started upon receipt of approval from the Chinese side. The KCR project has been approved as CPEC project while similar projects for Quetta and Peshawar will be reviewed upon receiving technical feasibility reports of the project.
The parliamentary committee was also briefed by the Ministry of Power regarding the early harvest energy projects which are on track. Thar coal project would be operational by June 2019 based on mining of indigenous coal from Thar. Port Qasim power project would be completed by February, 2018 while other projects including Hubco 1,320MW project and two hydro power projects in Sukki Kinari (870MW) and Karot (720MW) are proceeding ahead for completion as scheduled.
The meeting was attended by Salahuddin Tirmizi, Rana Muhammad Afzal, Isphanyar M Bhandara, Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, Asad Umar, Sheikh Salahuddin, Alhaj Shahji Gul Afridi and senior officials of different ministries and departments.
