China, Pakistan jointly promote high-quality development of CPEC

China-Pakistan Economic Corri­dor (CPEC), which runs through Pakistan from the lofty Hargool­un Range in the north all the way south to the Arabian Sea along the southern boundary of the country, is bursting with vitality.

Under the CPEC, flat and straight roads, lively ports, green and clean energy projects as well as indus­trial parks in the pipeline have brought great changes to Pakistan.

Islar, a Pakistani trucker, al­ways drives along the Karako­ram Highway (KKH) Phase-II (Havelian-Thakot Section), a pro­ject built in Pakistan under the framework of the CPEC.

The road conveys people’s ex­pectation of a good life, said Islar, who believes that it leads to both safety and prosperity.

In the past the road between Havelian and Thakot was a nar­row, steep and accident-prone path winding among the tower­ing mountains in northwestern Pakistan. It took truckers near­ly six hours to get to Thakot from Havelian.

The difficulty has been effec­tively solved by the 118-kilome­ter-long Havelian-Thakot highway. With 105 mainline bridges, 11 pe­destrian bridges, 464 culverts and six tunnels built along its route, the wide and smooth highway has cut the one-way driving time to less than two hours, significantly increasing transportation safety and efficiency.

As the Sukkur-Multan section of the Peshawar-Karachi Motorway in Pakistan, also an infrastructure project along the CPEC, officially opened to traffic, the north-south traffic artery in central Pakistan was opened, and the transporta­tion conditions of Multan, which is known for its mangoes, have been greatly improved.

The Sukkur-Multan motorway has shortened the time needed for mangoes to be transported from Multan to Sukkur from 11 hours to about 4 hours, substantial­ly reducing the loss of agricultur­al products during transportation.

It has also helped Multan at­tract investments from compa­nies. Since preparations for a highly anticipated fruit juice con­centrate plant in the region have been started recently, local man­go growers will no longer need to worry about the sale and trans­portation of their fruits.

The Gwadar Port, a flagship pro­ject of the CPEC, has witnessed new achievements. Since last year, the port has expanded its business scope, launching the Afghan cargo transit service systematically for the first time, providing liquefied petroleum gas-related services for the first time and realising com­mercial operation for the first time, infusing fresh impetus and vitality into local economic development.

Meanwhile, more CPEC projects concerning people’s well-being, including the New Gwadar Inter­national Airport and Gwadar hos­pital, are being advanced in an or­derly manner.

The interconnection of trans­portation infrastructure has stim­ulated the internal vitality of Pa­kistan’s economy, society, and various fields concerning people’s well-being, noted Pakistan’s Min­ister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives.

Pakistan and China will strength­en cooperation to drive larg­er-scale investment in Pakistan and accelerate the development of Pakistan’s economy, he added.

Besides transportation infra­structure construction, China-Pa­kistan energy cooperation has also progressed rapidly under the CPEC in recent years, easing Pa­kistan’s development bottleneck triggered by power shortage and introducing new ideas, technol­ogies and investments for Paki­stan’s exploration of clean energy.

In the vast Gobi desert in south-western Pakistan, a row of power transmission towers are extending into the distance. They are part of the ±660kVMatiari-La­hore high-voltage (HV) direct cur­rent (DC) transmission line, a CPEC project in Pakistan.

Adopting the world’s most ad­vanced DC transmission technolo­gy, the project, which was officially put into commercial operation in September 2021, is a power trans­mission project with the highest voltage level, the largest trans­mission capacity and the longest transmission distance in Pakistan.

It is believed that the project helps improve the stability and transmission capacity of Paki­stan’s national grid and further boost the country’s power supply.

In November 2021, the Karot Hydropower Project in Pakistan, the first CPEC hydropower invest­ment project, successfully closed the gates of the diversion tunnels and started reservoir impound­ment, paving the way for the wet testing of the generator units.

“Over years of construction of the hydropower project, the sur­rounding mountains have become greener and waters clearer. The project has not only made our life more convenient, but effective­ly advanced ecological conserva­tion,” said Haider, a relocated resi­dent at the reservoir region of the hydropower project.

“Everyone is looking forward to the operation of the project as early as possible, and hopes that it can bring cleaner and cheaper electricity,” he said.

With the advances in the project, the lower reaches of the Jhelum River basin, where the hydropow­er station is located, will witness improvement in irrigation effi­ciency and shipping conditions as well as reduction in the frequency of floods and droughts.

Up to now, the total installed ca­pacity of wind power projects com­pleted under the framework of the CPEC has reached 300,000 kWh, and that of CPEC solar projects has amounted to 400,000 kWh.

Meanwhile, the construction of the Karot Hydropower Project and the Suki Kinari Hydropower Pro­ject is proceeding steadily; and the Kohala Hydropower Project has already completed the signing of four major franchise agreements and will begin construction soon.

During the planning, construc­tion, and operation of CPEC pro­jects, Chinese companies have ac­tively recruited local people and promoted localised management of them. Relevant companies have not only provided technical lec­tures and training courses for Pa­kistani employees, but also made efforts to strengthen communica­tion between Chinese employees and their Pakistani colleagues so as to help them understand each other better. Thanks to the efforts, a significant increase has been achieved in their work efficiency.

On Oct 25, 2021, Nisar, a sub­way driver, steered the last train of the day steadily into the plat­form, bringing the first year of the operation of the Orange Line Met­ro Train project in Lahore city, Pa­kistan, to a perfect end.

“The Orange Line has changed the life of Lahore citizens, espe­cially mine. I’m really honoured to be a cog in the machine, for which I must take on due responsibili­ties,” Nisar said.

Over the past year or so, the au­tomated rapid transit line has transported more than 20 million passengers and registered a cu­mulative mileage of more than 12 million kilometres.

In addition, a group of local transportation management tal­ents and technicians have contin­uously improved their capabili­ties, becoming the backbone force for the operation of the project.

As the CPEC construction enters a new stage of high-quality devel­opment, local talents that have ac­quired new skills are expected to better promote the construction of industrial parks and help build an industrial and manufacturing centre for Pakistan, according to a Pakistani official.

At present, Pakistan is making preparations for the construction of industrial parks in the coun­try, including the Rashakai Spe­cial Economic Zone by leveraging the infrastructure development and talent cultivation results un­der the CPEC framework. These industrial parks will certainly at­tract more foreign investment, create a large number of jobs for local people, and speed up Paki­stan’s industrialization process, he pointed out.