CPEC projects: ‘Oil and Gas Plan’ to be presented for approval at JCC meeting in Jan

ISLAMABAD: The government has prepared an ‘Oil and Gas Plan’ for development projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which would be presented for approval in the next meeting of the joint cooperation committee (JCC) scheduled to be held in January.

While talking to Business Recorder, Project Director CPEC Dr Liaqat Ali Shah said that working papers and PC-1 of all development projects relating to oil and gas sectors would be prepared under the framework of the plan adding that it would provide the guidelines for development projects of the sector and most of the projects would relate to oil refinery, gas pipeline and storage of oil.

In response to a query he said that the government is also planning to establish an ‘oil city’ in Gwadar under this framework.

The CPEC Project Director said that Agriculture Action Plan is also ready and “we will share it with Chinese government in coming JCC meeting.”

Documentation and bidding process of ML-1 Railway Project at an estimated cost of $ 6.2 billion have been completed and would be discussed in the forthcoming JCC meeting with Chinese authorities, he stated, adding the project would be completed in three phases.

Development work is in the final stage on four Special Economic Zones including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Rashakai, Sindh’s Dhabeji, Punjab’s Allama Iqbal Industrial Zone and Balochistan’s Bostan Industrial Zone, Dr Shah revealed.

Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated Allama Iqbal Economic Zone in January, 2020, while KP’s Rashakai SEZ’s groundbreaking is likely to take place within the next two months, he revealed while emphasizing that the federal government would be providing utility facilities including gas, electricity and infrastructure to these industrial zones.

He said the government was fully committed to ensuring a business-friendly environment by providing competitive incentives to industry and that efforts were being made to achieve efficiency in SEZs through one window operation in synch with global practices.

“Rashakai would be established as a model zone followed by Dhabeji which is uniquely placed and open equally for local and foreign investors,” he added.

Dr Shah acknowledged that China had given $1 billion grant for small socioeconomic development projects under CPEC and that in the first phase four projects were completed out of 17 while six projects are on-going. He further stated that these projects had been put on fast track.

According to sources, the government has released a total of Rs40 billion (51.73 percent) for 32 CPEC development projects under the Public-Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2020-21 against the total budgeted allocation of Rs77.33 billion.

Talking to Business Recorder, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal claimed that the PTI government could not initiate any new project under CPEC while it has delayed several development projects due to incompetence adding that the Western Route was scheduled for completion in 2018 but remains incomplete to this day.

He said that ML-I Railway Project was to start in 2018 but has yet to commence while the Special Economic Zones were to be commissioned in 2020 after provision of the necessary infrastructure but the PTI government has been unable to keep the timeline. He further contended that the Khan administration has failed to attract foreign investors due to the worsening economic situation of the country.

“The PML-N government had lined up $40 billion investment for these industrial zones. But this government forced out the investors due to its wrong economic policies. Many ongoing projects scheduled for completion in 2019 and 2020 have not been completed,” he concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020