Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Khusro Bakhtiar has said an implementation committee has been constituted which would decide about financial scope and phases of ML-I Pakistan Railway project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and submit its report within two weeks to the Cabinet Committee on CPEC.
Addressing a news conference after chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on CPEC here on Wednesday, the minister said the committee discussed new initiative projects of social economic development and agriculture sector as well as Mainline (ML-I) Pakistan Railway project, worth $8.2 billion. He said the committee has decided to put ML-I project on fast track and constituted an implementation committee under Minister for Railway Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to settle the matters of financial scope and division of phases of the project. He said that the final decision would be made in the light of the committee recommendations.
He said 21-mmeber CPEC Business Forum has been constituted to involve business community for investment under the CPEC. The CPEC Business Forum consists of Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Khusro Bakhtiar as chairman while members included; secretary Ministry of Planning, ex officio president of FPCCI, president Employers Federation of Pakistan Majid Aziz, chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association Javed Bilwani, ex officio chairman of Pakistan Chemicals Manufacturers Association (PCMA), CEO Habib Bank Limited Aurangzeb Kahn, chairman Millat Tractor Sikander M Khan, CEO National Foods Abrar Hasan, ex officio MD Fauji Foundation, CEO Haier and Ruba, Javed Afridi, Chairman Nestle Pakistan Syed Yawar Ali, ex officio president of Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI), CEO Daewoo Pakistan Express Bus Service Limited Shaheryar Chishty, chairman Jaffer Brothers Nasser NS Jaffer, CEO Pakistan Business Council Ehsan A Malik, Head of Infrastructure Division DESCON Adnan Bakhtiar, Member PARC Imdad Ali Nizamani, representative from GB, Member Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform Aism Saeed, and Project Director CPEC Hassan Daud.
The minister said China would give $1 billion grant to Pakistan for various projects of socioeconomic development and agriculture sectors under the second phase of CPEC in three years. He said $500 million would be distributed in first year to complete early harvest and pilot projects. He said that a team of Chinese experts visited Pakistan and different levels of discussion were held at federation and provinces. List of the projects in sectors including agriculture, education, health, poverty alleviation, water supply and vocational training is being finalised and would be shared with China soon. A memorandum of understanding on socioeconomic development would be signed to ensure early implementation of the projects with the cost of $400 to 500 million in the first phase, he intimated.
He said a team of Chinese experts is coming to Pakistan next month to discuss the projects of agriculture sector. He said the newly established joint working group will meet in the first week of April in order to expedite cooperation for modernising Pakistan Agriculture sector and utilise potentials for export maximisation. It envisages cooperation in meet, food supply chain, processing and co-branding, livestock and fisheries, enhancement of seeds quality, irrigations system and technology transfer, he added.
He said after consultation with the provinces, projects relating to agriculture, education, health, food obligation, poverty alleviation and water sectors would be launched. He said that most of the projects would be started in backward areas to balance economic condition of whole areas of Pakistan.
Answering a question, the minister said projects of $28 billion are in progress under the CPEC.
About the Western Route, the minister said, "We would launch a big phase for construction of Western Route under CPEC. We are going to groundbreaking of this project in this month."
He informed that the committee has decided to develop Sukkur-Hyderabad section on Eastern Route through built-operate-transfer (BOT) mode and National Highway Authority will complete the design as well as feasibility and award of the contract will be done in 2019. The project will yield savings of $2 to 2.5 billion, he said.
About Gwadar project, the minister said the PTI government is all set for groundbreaking of Gwadar International Airport this month (March). He said there has been no progress on this project during the last three to four years.
He said for the supply of electricity to Gwadar, a power project of 300MW is already in process which would be completed soon.
About Special Economic Zones (SEZs), he said the government prioritised this field by ensuring rapid implementation wherein concession agreement of Special Economic Zone at Rashakai, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, would be signed till 25th of this month, while groundbreaking would be made in April.
Answering another question, the minister told that all ongoing projects under the CPEC are fully funded. He said none of the funds allocated for CPEC projects were diverted to any other purpose; rather, allocation for other initiatives in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) were re-appropriated for sustainable development goals.
Comments
Comments are closed.