China, Pakistan strongly committed to reviving CPEC in letters, spirit: Planning Minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal government reviewed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects including ML-1 Railways and Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) projects.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiates Ahsan Iqbal chaired a high-level meeting to review the progress of the ongoing CPEC projects here in Islamabad on Thursday.

Project Director CPEC Dr Nadeem Javed, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, line ministries, Board of Investment, Embassy of Pakistan – Beijing, National Highways Authority, Government of Sind, Government of Punjab, LESCO, CPPAG, KPEZDMC, Peshawar attended the meeting.

The Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing briefed the participants on the status of ML-1 and KCR projects.

It was decided that the concerned authorities and departments from China and Pakistan would actively pursue their part furnishing all needful ensuring there is no further delay to cause a slowdown.

The meeting was also briefed about the current status of the Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Rashakai, Bostan, and Dhabeji SEZs and Gwadar Port Authority and Gwadar Free Zone.

Meanwhile, the representatives of the Balochistan government apprised the participants on the water supply schemes, precision training complex, and situation of Electricity supply, Gwadar University, maintenance dredging and 3,000 solar system installation in Gwadar.

Talking to the participants, the federal minister stated that China and Pakistan are strongly committed to reviving the CPEC in letter and spirit. He said that the cooperation will be further expanded to more sectors.

The minister maintained that Gwadar and its inhabitants have been the top priority among the entire portfolio of the CPEC and even today, the government is committed to solving the problems this city and its citizens are facing.

He instructed the concerned authorities to make sure no further delays are witnessed in completing the water supply schemes and the projects related to energy and education.

He believed that Gwadar had the potential to emerge as one of the world’s top port cities duly equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, a modernised and technologically-advanced port with enhanced capacity and all necessary ingredients of socioeconomic well-being.

To avoid the overlapping of courses and skills offered at three vocational training institutes in Gwadar, Ahsan Iqbal directed the concerned stakeholders to chalk out a comprehensive plan where the roles and offered skills at these institutes are clearly defined and eventually link them to the Gwadar authority.

To ensure this non-overlapping of offered skills, an integrated plan was directed by the minister planning for enhanced productivity.

Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal directed the concerned departments to convene meetings of the Joint Working Groups on Energy and Infrastructure so that the work on projects related to these domains might be expedited.