Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Monday decided to seek the help of a KP parliamentary committee to resolve a dispute over land acquisition which may delay the completion of the 870-megawatt Suki Kinari hydroelectric power project, which is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, for at least a year.
Iqbal chaired a meeting to review the progress on CPEC projects ahead of upcoming China-Pakistan Joint Working Group meetings of the Transport Infrastructure Group, Energy Group and Gwadar Group. The meetings will take place between the last week of current month and the first week of August.
The 870MW project was planned in 1960 and German, Canadian and United Kingdom companies carried out feasibility studies. Later on, the government decided to make it part of the CPEC. However, for the last over one year, the K-P government has been unable to resolve the dispute over land acquisition. The officials said the local population was demanding a price of land that was far more than the price the authorities included in the overall cost of $1.8 billion of the project.
One of the participants of the meeting also complained that the KP parliamentary committee was not playing an effective role. He said the committee was instead creating hurdles.
“Provincial governments should play a proactive role in attracting foreign investment as this is … necessary for the economic growth and development of federating units,” an official statement quoted Iqbal as saying.
Under the China’s One-Belt One-Road initiative, both the countries signed $46-billion CPEC agreements in April last year to connect western China with Gwadar Port.
The Chinese working on a road project of the CPEC also complained about the lack of requisite security. However, the government assured Chinese authorities that the needed security would be provided to protect the lives of those who were working on these projects.
Iqbal stressed that he would personally take up the issue with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
The Ministry of Water and Power told the meeting participants that work on the Port Qasim power plant, Thar power plant, Hubco coal project, Sahiwal power plant and other hydroelectric power projects was on track and these would be completed according to the schedule.
The planning minister urged the ministry to fast track work on these projects aimed at ending load-shedding by early 2018.
The government is betting on CPEC projects to end power outages ahead of next general elections, which is critical for the ruling party to win over support of the people.
Iqbal said the CPEC was the top priority of the government and early harvest projects under the economic corridor would be completed expeditiously. He directed that the western passage may be developed with full thrust and updates be given in each fortnightly meeting.
He expressed his satisfaction over the progress on ongoing CPEC projects and urged the need for finalising the long-term plan of CPEC at the earliest. He said focus should be on Gwadar projects and ground-breaking of some of them should be performed next month. He also underlined the need for fast tracking work on Gwadar International Airport and Gwadar seaport projects.
