ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on CPEC Affairs, Khalid Mansoor said that China has given the assurance of high quality and expeditious development of multi-billion-dollar second phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project during the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing.
Addressing a news conference here on Monday, the Special Assistant to the PM said that the leadership of Chinese companies during meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan appreciated the environment and facilitation being provided by Pakistan to the Chinese investors.
He said that during the visit of China, the prime minister held 20 meetings in two days with leadership of various Chinese companies relating to various sectors.
He said that during the meetings, the Chinese companies showed interest for investment in various sectors including industries, agriculture, Information Technology, infrastructure, housing and construction, and mining and oil refinery.
The special assistant said it will now be our effort to give a practical shape to their interest in the shortest possible time.
“Chinese investors were told that the Economic Coordination Committee had approved Rs100 billion for CPEC projects, Independent Power Producers (IPPs), out of which, Rs50 billion has already been disbursed against outstanding payables to CPEC operational companies, while the remaining amount of Rs50 billion will be provided to them this month,” he said.
CPEC under renewed China focus
He said that the second issue raised by the Chinese investors during the meeting was the delay in the establishment of a revolving account. He said that the prime minister gave the approval for it, prior to the trip to China, which was communicated to the Chinese delegation.
He said that the Chinese companies were concerned regarding the number of approvals needed to conduct an investment, which causes delay.
The Special Assistant to PM on CPEC Affairs said that in this regard, the Pakistan government, weeks before the trip, introduced a landmark legislation, in which, the approval regime has become a compliance regime, and now the investor would provide an undertaking that they would comply with certain things as per the law of the land, whereas, its enforcement will be undertaken through an audit regime.
He said that the facilitation centre at the CPEC Authority is up and running, which acts as a single-window operation to resolve issues of the Chinese investors.
He said that China has also reaffirmed the commitment to the construction of Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone with an investment of $3.5 billion.
He said that a consortium comprising of three Chinese companies have submitted a proposal to establish a low carbon recycle plant at Gwadar with an estimated investment of $ 4.5 billion. He said the plant will process and export the high value metals. This will generate 40,000 job opportunities.
Khalid Mansoor said one Chinese company has entered into a joint venture with Fauji Fertilizer Company for production of Soybean and Corn.
He said a Chinese Company, Royal Group, has submitted a proposal to establish four large scale buffalo farms in Pakistan where it will process milk and prepare value-added products.
He said that China will establish a center for training of farmers in agricultural mechanization.
He said that $50 million would be spent for training of famers. He said that Royal Group plans to set up Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) free dairy buffalo farm project with an investment of $50 million.
The group envisages developing four large scale buffalo farms with 8,000 heads for 16 million litres annual milk production capacity, he said.
Pertaining to the textile sector, a Chinese company called Textile Fashion has purchased 100 acres of land at Lahore–Kasur Road, in which the company would set up an entire textile cluster at an investment of $250 million.
He said that a Chinese company involved in manufacturing of medical diagnostic equipment has expressed interest to invest $200 million.
Khalid Mansoor said that a Pakistan’s telecom Jazz company has reached an agreement with a Chinese company, Hunan Sunwalk to lay fiber optic at an area of one hundred thousand kilometers.
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This will help connect our big cities with the optical fiber, he said.
He said that Hunan SunWalk Construction Group has signed an MoU with a private telecommunication company to lay an optical fibre cable network of around 100,000 kilometers in all major cities of Pakistan with an investment of $2 billion.
About housing, he said that China company signed an MoU with Pakistan Housing Authority to build 5,000 houses in Pakistan.
He said China also wants to establish a LNG storage facility at Karachi port with an investment of $500 million.
He said that Chinese companies also showed interest in steel.
He said that China companies also determined to participate in the privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills.
The special assistant said that local manufacturing and assembly of mobiles will also be started by China in the Science and Technology zone.
He said Power China will develop Karachi hub water canal.
He was confident that the country will now head towards industrialization, which will benefit the economy and provide job opportunities to the youth.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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