Chinese workers are set to expedite work on Saindak Copper-Gold Project under CPEC

ISLAMABAD: In order to resume the project and ensure Pakistani personnel’s income, 68 Chinese staff of Saindak Project, Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. (MCC), arrived Saindak Balochistan and would prepare for resuming work, Gwadar reported on Sunday.

“This flight carrying the staff took 14 hours which can be considered as the fastest journey in last 18 years,” a manager of MCC Saindak said. Reporter of Gwadar Pro was told that up to now, all of those Chinese staff have been isolated for observation for 1week and no one was detected as infected.

According to the plan, they will accept another nucleic acid testing on June 22th and start resuming work for Saindak Project gradually.Due to the pandemic, Chinese staff had been trapped in China for more than 6 months, therefore the smelteries of Saindak Project were halted and Pakistani staff couldn’t get full salary.

“Pakistani personnel’s livelihood is facing crisis. There’s a chain reaction that such a situation will threaten the regional security, prosperity and stability,” manager said.All of Chinese staff who were trapped in China are worried about the situation in Saindak. They have bought the flight tickets for several times in last 3month, however because of COVID-19 outbreak in Pakistan, the flights were canceled repeatedly.

A Chinese staff said that: “We couldn’t wait for the end of epidemic anymore. Our Pakistani brothers are waiting for us. Though the epidemic situation in Pakistan is severe and worrying, we decided to apply for a chartered airplane to back to the project.”In fact, the chartered airplane could take Chinese staff in Pakistan back to China when it returns. However, to ensure the work schedule, each Chinese staff has decided to stay at Saindak.

Up to now, both Chinese and Pakistani staff are isolated for observation. There’re a series of measures to ensure their safety from COVID-19. Once they finish the isolation on June 22th, they will return to the project and resume work gradually.