Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said that there was no change in the route of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and it would pass through all provinces.
The decisions taken at the All Parties Conference (APC) held on CPEC were being implemented, the minister said while addressing a press conference after briefing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and parliamentarians on the CPEC’s route, as identified by different working groups formed after the signing of CPEC agreement on July 5, 2013.
Ahsan said no route was agreed on before the CPEC agreement was signed, however different working groups later identified three main routes that would pass through all four provinces.
Ahsan Iqbal said he addressed all 13 reservations pointed out by the KP chief minister and asked him to give evidence, if any, regarding the route that was agreed on before the 2013 agreement. The concerns of the KP parliamentarians were addressed by him through documentary proofs, he added.
Iqbal said there were misunderstandings on the CPEC in media and among public representatives that needed to be cleared.
He dispelled the impression that the Chinese government gave $46 billion to Pakistan in cash under the CPEC project for distribution among the provinces.
The factual position was that some $35 to 38 billion investment would be made by Chinese private companies through independent power producers in the energy sector, he added. He said that it was imperative to strengthen the energy sector for success of the CPEC and therefore, the Chinese government had agreed to give $35 to 38 billion to its companies for investment in Pakistan’s power sector.
With this investment, Pakistan would overcome the energy crisis by 2018, he added.
Ahsan said the CPEC agreement was signed in 2013 and it was supposed to be inaugurated in 2014 by the Chinese president, but it was delayed for an year due to PTI’s sit-in in Islamabad. The federal minister categorically said that the government was implementing the decisions of the APC in letter and spirit as it considered the CPEC as ‘a fate changer and not a game changer.’
The federal government was committed to include Pakistan among the world’s top 25 economies, which would only be possible when all the provinces worked in unison in the development process, he remarked. He said the federal government considered the development of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as that of the country and would not do any injustice to the province in any circumstance.
Ahsan Iqbal said that a committee comprising a senior minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and three secretaries had been constituted to give proposals on the CPEC. He said the federal government would collaborate with the KP government to incorporate the suggestions of the committee in the CPEC project.
Ahsan said that nothing was concealed, as all the facts related to the CPEC were open to the public. All the proceedings of the meetings held on the project were broadcast and published through media for public awareness.
Apart from it, a joint committee of the parliament was also formed to monitor the implementation of the project, he added.
The minister said that propaganda by any segment of society or misreporting by media could affect the project as well as investment. He assured that the project would be implemented through national consensus and reservations of all the stakeholders would be addressed.
Ahsan said that copies of the papers relating to the CPEC were handed over to the KP chief minister for his knowledge and to dispel the impression that the federal government was keeping things secret.
