CPEC fortnightly review meeting held; Minister calls for developing Thar as a model city

CPEC fortnightly review meeting held; Minister calls for developing Thar as a model city

Islamabad—Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday emphasized the need for a Master Plan to develop Thar as model city and asked Sindh Government and investors in Engro Power Plant take necessary steps. Investors in Thar should maximize Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to uplift lives of poor.

The economic activity in Thar should not be geared to earn the profits only but should also focus on economic and social uplift of the area. “We should not repeat the mistake made in Sui,”. Ahsan Iqbal stated this while chairing a fortnightly review meeting of China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) at Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform here.

He also directed to finalize the plan to switch Gwadar Power Plant from coal to LNG/oil on urgent basis to meet the urgent energy needs of the port city. The meeting reviewed the progress on projects in energy, road infrastructure, railway and Gwadar under CPEC framework. Ahsan Iqbal directed to undertake the construction work on CPEC projects on fast track basis to ensure their completion in stipulated time frame.
The Minister emphasized that smarter and scientific approach should be adopted while carrying out the work on CPEC projects and urged for mobilizing the required financial resources promptly for smooth execution of work on these projects. While reviewing the energy project in CPEC, Ahsan Iqbal said that speedy work on these projects is necessary to tackle the energy crisis and power needs of industrial zones in future under CPEC.
He said that with the completion of the energy projects in early harvest projects, 10,000 MGW would be added in national grid by 2018. He asked Ministry of Water and Power to present an integrated plan for generation, transmission and distribution for next three year within one week to ensure that new power will be distributed to consumers in a planned manner.

He also directed that young Pakistan engineers should be inducted in power plants to learn from Chinese counterparts erection and fabrication of power plants. Ahsan Iqbal also underlined the need to use CPEC projects for making country a manufacturing economy rather a trading one for sustained economic growth.
The Federal Minister while reviewing Gwadar projects directed the concerned authorities to consider urban planning requirements while devising Master Plan for Gwadar and also called for enforcing the land zoning laws to rationalize the prices of land in the city.

The meeting also reviewed KKH-II (Thakot-Havalaian section) and Multan- Sukhur Section of Karachi-Peshawar Motorway, Matiari-Lahore Transmission Line, ML-1 Railway Track, LNG Pipeline Project etc. and expressed s atisfaction over progress on CPEC projects.—APP