Socio-economic development projects: Panel on CPEC voices concerns over slow progress

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) expressed serious concerns and resentment over lack of clarity and slow progress on various socio-economic development projects of $1 billion granted by China.

Two years ago, under the Socio-Economic Development Framework, China had provided a grant of $1 billion to Pakistan for initiating various projects across the country especially in under-developed areas.

The Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) met (in-camera) with Sher Ali Arbab in the chair at the Parliament House on Wednesday.

According to the sources, the committee asked the Ministry of Development and Reform to give concrete information on the CPEC projects with groundwork, progress and timelines in the next meetings, instead of providing open source information.

The Committee also asked the minister to set priority of the projects for benefit of common people of less-developed areas.

The Committee was briefed by secretary, Ministry of Industries and Production, secretary, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, additional secretary, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives regarding issues, challenges and way forward on industrialisation in Pakistan, and on all initiatives pertaining to socio-economic development.

Moreover, in order to seek compliance over previous recommendations of the Committee, the meeting was also attended by secretary, Ministry of Maritime Affairs, secretary, Board of Investment, special secretary, Ministry of Commerce, additional secretary, Ministry of Railways, additional secretary, Economic Affairs Division, managing director, NTDC, project director, New Gwadar International Airport, additional secretary (E&P) KP, CEO, KP (BOIT) chief economist P&DD (Sindh), and chief economist, Punjab.

The Committee chairman said, “We will have to pursue futuristic approach while proposing future projects and implementing existing projects under CPEC framework. For this purpose, electric traction (ET) component should be added in ML-1 project as this option would not only be environmental friendly but also ensure cost reduction in future.”

The secretary, Ministry of Industries and Production, gave detailed presentation over the issues faced by industrial sector and the steps taken to improve the industrialisation in Pakistan.

The secretary briefed that the industries having competitive advantage are being provided special incentives by reducing tariffs on electricity.

Resultantly, the textile and leather industries are currently running at their full potential.

These industries have generated greater employment opportunities during precarious environment created by the coronavirus pandemic.

The chairman remarked that the CPEC was a gateway to economic progress and prosperity, and the industrial sector was a lynchpin of the CPEC.

Dwindling economy of Pakistan will not thrive unless the bottlenecks of industrial sector are removed.

He said that there is an exigency of establishing the strongest coordination among all the concerned dealing with industrial sector, so that value addition in our local products could be ensured, the small and medium enterprises could be strengthened in Pakistan, and exports could be maximised.

Sher Ali Arbab also remarked that agriculture had been the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. “Currently, Pakistan has a massive potential in the agriculture sector. We have to enhance research and expertise capacity pertaining to agriculture so that agriculture sector could be modernised and agriculture-led exports could be increased,” he said.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Noor Alam Khan, Sadaqat Ali Khan Abbasi, Umer Aslam Khan, Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak, Ghous Bux Khan Mahar, Zahid Akram Durrani, and Senator Mir Kabir Ahmed Muhammad Shahi.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020