Probe into motorway projects: PML-N says decision aimed at diverting attention from ‘bad economy’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal, Thursday, termed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s directives to probe into motorways built by Nawaz Sharif under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), either questioning the credibility of China or the institutions under the military.

Speaking at a news conference along with Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, the PML-N secretary-general alleged that the prime minister had a strategy of coming up with these accusations of corruption in the motorways projects as a diversion from “how badly he is demolishing Pakistan’s economy and crushing the people”.

“This reflects Imran Khan’s sick mentality that he did not even think before defiling the image and reputation of Pakistan Army’s subsidiaries like Frontier Works Organization(FWO) and the National Logistics Cell (NLC),” he said.

He maintained that the prime minister’s allegations also tainted Pakistan’s strongest friend and most trusted ally China, “which is a dangerous act clearly against national interest”.

Ahsan who was supervising the CPEC projects under the then PML-N government, stated that various roads had different costs based on their specifications and engineering design according to the land and topographical requirements.

For instance, he added that a road in a flood-prone area is more expensive and so is a road with more bridges.

He pointed out that the then ambassador of China had tweeted and praised the Havelian-Thakot project as a model of engineering expertise and perfection and had received international award, “while the PTI government is alleging corruption in the same projects”.

He challenged the prime minister to write to the Chinese president to initiate an inquiry about the Multan-Sukkur motorway over which the PTI ministers alleged Rs50-70 billion kickbacks.

He stated that the joint investigation team (JIT)report over these allegations was still pending.

“Imran Khan must answer which projects were a victim of corruption, because Multan-Sukkur Motorway, Havelian-Thakot, and East Bay in Gwadar were all directly invested by China and had nothing to do with the government of Pakistan,” he added. The PML-N leader lashed out at the government for asking China to renegotiate financials for the energy projects by Chinese companies during the recent JCC meetings.

“Why should foreign investors take the brunt for the incompetence and incapacity of the incompetent PTI government… No special concessions were given to China for these energy projects and they were given same conditions as the rest of the world was offered. But China, on the request of Nawaz Sharif was the only country that invested because at the time not even local investors were willing to put in a single dollar,” he said.

He further said that Thar Coal’s mining was made possible only with China’s help and it will help in producing the cheapest electricity for years to come.

He also criticised Prime Minister Khan for calling the CPEC projects a burden on Pakistan’s economy.

He pointed out that the excess capacity was installed keeping in consideration 5.8 growth rate and had that continued under the PTI even this electricity would have been enough.

“But because Imran Khan crashed Pakistan’s economy to negative growth, obviously, the demand for electricity was suppressed. On top of that, the demand was further crushed by three times increase in the electricity tariffs,” he maintained.

“Imran Khan’s anti-CPEC rants stinks of Western propaganda and is against the interests of the country and its people,” he further maintained.

He pointed out that Jaglot-Skardu, Jakhat-Challas, Rurbat-Hoshab, Hoshab-Sohrab highways, M2 Lahore-Islamabad re-servicing, Lahore-Sialkot motorway, Karachi, Sehwan-Rattudero, Thaliyan Link Road were all built by the FWO. He asked the prime minister to tell the nation how much money did the FWO make through corruption by over invoicing the projects.

He also refuted the prime minister’s statement that Mattiyari-Lahore transmission line was delayed by the PML-N since 2013, whereas, he pointed out that its agreement was signed in May 2018 and date of commissioning was set for September 2021.

“He [PM] should have read about things before opening his mouth. This is Pakistan’s first high voltage transmission line and the world’s second,” he said.

He said that it was written in the CPEC document that from 2020 to 2025, it would be the industrial development phase and nine special economic zones (SEZs) were specified in 2018.

He said that the PTI government had to complete the infrastructure of these nine SEZs by 2020 but it did not lay a single brick.

“Now they are talking about it when it is already two years late,” he lamented.

“He [the PM]has destroyed macro-economics of Pakistan and he should remember that these industrial zones were not government-to-government but business-to-business.

No investor would be interested in a country where currency exchange rates were plummeting and the financial outlook is unstable under the PTI government,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021