CPEC projects may be delayed for 3 months

The multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects may be delayed for two to three months due to Covid-19 in the country.

CPEC Project Director Dr Liaqat Ali said while talking to this correspondent that CPEC projects in their completion could be delayed by up to two to three months due to pandemic situation in the country.

He said that the Chinese workers, who had been dealing with various CPEC projects, got stuck in various cities of their country, when Beijing suspended international flight operations in January due to the spread of the virus.

Ali said that if the pandemic situation got worse then it might further affect the CPEC projects in the country.

"The Chinese traveling to Pakistan spend 14 days in quarantine in China, and then they are also placed in quarantine for another 14 days in Pakistan," Ali said, adding that "effective measures" were in place to stem the spread of the virus in Pakistan's cities.

He said that the Chinese companies would place their workforce in quarantine at their respective project sites.

"We don't allow them to mix with the local population," Ali said.

The CPEC project director said the work on all projects, including the transmission lines, roads and hospitals, was now in full swing. Similarly, according to a report published by Gwadar Pro on Wednesday, "the Covid-19 spread will affect the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to a certain extent, but the effect will be within a controllable range."

The report added that now everyone is very much concerned about the Covid-19 impact on the construction of CPEC projects.

Some people say that it has an impact, some say there is no impact, and others say the impact is very large.

However, the impact on CPEC will depend on the spread of the epidemic in days to come and the effectiveness of Pakistan's epidemic prevention and control measures.

The Chinese and Pakistani governments and peoples have firm determination to overcome difficulties caused by the Covid-19 and promote CPEC construction.

Both governments have maintained close communication and coordination on specific issues of CPEC projects now.

Normal flights between the two countries were temporarily interrupted due to the pandemic, but Chinese technicians had returned to the site by chartered airplanes.