The Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) held a meeting in Islamabad the other day, chaired by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal briefed the Committee on the recently concluded 6th meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) in Beijing.
He said, “Total consensus among the provinces has been achieved and Diamer-Bhasha Dam now will also be the part of CPEC.”
“11,000 MW of electricity will be added to the national grid by the next year, 5000 MW through CPEC and 5000 MW through non-CPEC projects,” he added.
The minister said that for the first time, Thar coal which has a huge capacity will be used for electricity and two transmission lines are being installed between Matiari and Lahore and Matiari and Faisalabad.
Furthermore, there is an agreement on giving priority to construction of the Western route of CPEC as well as up-gradation and dualization of Karachi-Torkham railway line at a cost of $ 8 billion.
All four provincial capitals, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar will have rail-based mass transit system as part of CPEC.
The committee underlined the need to expose and counter any baseless propaganda against CPEC by forces inimical to the interests of Pakistan and Pakistan-China strategic partnership.
