Defence & Diplomacy: CPEC Removing Reservations

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak has expressed serious reservations regarding China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and warned the federal government that if it does not address the fears of KP about the (CPEC) project, then the province will take an extreme step. The harsh statement was rendered in the presence of Senator Mushahid Hussain, during a news conference after Mr. Mushahid, who heads a parliamentary committee overseeing the CPEC project, briefed the parliamentary party leaders at Peshawar.
To allay KP’s reservations, a steering committee under the PM has been set up to monitor the progress.
The outburst from the KP Chief Minister is serious since the CPEC is a national project, which is likely to usher major economic developments in Pakistan.
Following the epoch making visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pakistan in April 2015, on May 28, an All Parties Conference (APC) had been convened by the government, during which the Federal Minister for Planning Development & Reform, Mr. Ahsan Iqbal briefed the participants to assuage doubts regarding the mega project. Resultantly, all political parties expressed full support for the project.
Examine Mr. Khattak’s qualms, prima facie, the minutes of the May 28, 2015 APC indicate the commitment to build the Western route, passing through backward areas of KP and Balochistan on priority basis. Khattak claims that the western route has been restricted only to a road, which is unacceptable to KP, while the project’s additional components including fiber optic, railway track, gas and oil pipeline, LNG and other facilities had been attached with the eastern route of the corridor to be laid between Gwadar and Rawalpindi.
Apparently, either the KP CM is not fully cognizant of the full magnitude of the project or he is being deliberately maneuvered by vested interests to sabotage CPEC. The May 28 APC talks only of the western route but KP is the beneficiary of five major aspects of the project. A new KKH is being built because the old route is congested with traffic and is the worse for wear. More than 600 Kms of the new KKH is going to pass through KP. The CM is demanding a six lane highway, which is ambitious and it is impractical to construct such a broad highway through mountains and treacherous terrain, where a dual carriage road will suffice as is the norm in most developed countries. He also claims that if the CPEC’s share for KP is only a road, the province could have built it from its own resources.
The second project, the 840 MW Suki Kinari Hydropower project is the largest private sector hydropower initiative in Pakistan. Designed to produce 2.958 GWh annually, this mega project alone is expected to substantially increase Pakistan’s existing available power generation capacity. Its groundwork is expected to commence in March 2016
Let us stop creating hurdles for completion of CPEC
Participants:
Dr. Abid Qayyum Sulehri
Jan Achakzai
Dr. Nur Fatima
Host: SM Hal