The multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative will consist of several development opportunities, and is not just one project.
It will be implemented gradually. Energy, transport infrastructure, industrial parks, and the Gwadar Port are major components of this comprehensive cooperation framework signed between Pak-China leadership.
Head of Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), Amir Rana said on Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries clearly indicates that the CPEC initiative would cover all of Pakistan, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Chinese investors, companies, and financial institutions are stakeholders while Pakistan’s government is the guarantor, he added.
Amir Rana said that in the first phase, road connectivity would be completed to interconnect all provinces, adding that building CPEC needs to be based on scientific research and designed by short, mid and long-term planning.
He said seven free economic zones would be made along the CPEC route and respective provincial governments should identify sites for these economic zones instead of politicising the entire initiative.
He opined that reservations expressed by KP leadership regarding CPEC implementation are based on misconception and misunderstanding.
Pakistan Council on China Executive Director Dr. Fazal said that the CPEC initiative would bring benefits to people of all the provinces, including KP.
He informed that Atta Abad-Havalian road is a main artery of the CPEC route and the KP provincial government should propose different projects after carrying out a feasibility study.
Dr Fazal said that the KP government should work for the development of the province and exercise its rights under the 18th amendment.
He informed that after the completion of first phase, hydel power projects, dry ports and special economic zones would be established in KP under CPEC initiative.
According to Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal, CPEC is a fusion of multiple developments, aiming for peace, prosperity and well-being of the peoples of the region and the world at large.
The existing roads are being upgraded to interconnect different areas of the country.
The 650 KM Gwadar-Surab road is being completed on priority basis to link the all-important Gwadar Port with rest of the country.
The upgradation of Quetta-DI Khan road is also imperative keeping in view its importance.
The federal government has already announced that it will fulfil all the commitments it has made at the All Parties Conference (APC) in May 2015, and would build the Western route, passing through backward areas of KP and Balochistan, on a priority basis.
In terms of the development of energy and infrastructure development projects in different parts of the country, the minister has already made it clear that out of total USD 46 billion, USD 38 billion dollars would be invested in the power sector through private investors.
The federal government cannot force private investors to initiate these projects at sites of its choice.
The remaining USD 6 billion would be a concessional financing from Chinese government for the projects of infrastructure.
The selection of the sites for the energy projects would be made after complete consensus from both countries, as it is a bilateral project.
