CPEC is vital for prosperous Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – China is happy with the consensus in Pakistan over the China-Paki­stan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the two allies continue to imple­ment the multi-billion-dollar plan, the country’s top diplomat said.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told The Nation that both countries were satisfied with the CPEC progress. “China is satis­fied with us. There can be no mis­understandings between the iron brothers,” he said.

Last week, a webinar was con­ducted in which all political par­ties in Balochistan were rep­resented by their mainstream leadership. The Balochistan lead­ership highly appreciated the role of China in overcoming the glob­al pandemic and helping Pakistan amid Covid-19.

Chinese ambassador in Pakistan Yao Jing assured 100% support in all aspects to the party leaders.

The Baochistan representatives expressed satisfaction with the CPEC plan.

Pakistan dispelled the false impression that the CPEC was being slowed down. “Some detractors are giving false impres­sion that CPEC is being slowed. Not only the pace of work on projects has picked up recently, a great deal of ground work has also done to launch phase-2,” Chairman of the CPEC Authority in Pakistan Asim Saleem Bajwa said on Twitter.

Bajwa, who is also the special assistant to the prime minister on information and broadcasting, said the scope of CPEC had actual­ly been enhanced as work on hy­dropower projects, special eco­nomic zones and agriculture was also being done.

The Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-20, the country’s annual eco­nomic survey, has said that nine SEZs will be established under the CPEC portfolio, which will create tremendous job opportunities and technological transformation.

Work on CPEC projects, with the help of China, was in full swing, said the economic survey add­ing the CPEC was a long term pro­ject negotiated through a mul­ti-layered process.

Foreign Office spokesper­son Aisha Farooqui said CPEC had helped Pakistan “address de­velopment gaps in energy, infra­structure, industrialization and job creation.” She said it should be perceived in terms of enormous economic benefits for the people of Pakistan and social economic development.

“We believe it is also benefi­cial for regional connectivity and prosperity. Pakistan and China are all weather strategic cooperative partners. The CPEC is a transfor­mational project for Pakistan and its expeditious completion is our top priority. In this regard, a CPEC Authority has been established to oversee completion of the pro­jects,” she added.

Aisha Farooqui said that twelve corridor related power projects have either been completed or were under construction with the total capacity of 7240 megawatts with an investment of $12.4 bil­lion. “Another nine power pro­jects are at an early stage with the capacity of six thousand three hundred and ninety megawatt,” she said.