SATURDAY FEBRUARY 21: Route map of economic corridor: sufficient lack of clarity still exists

ISLAMABAD: No relevant government ministry/department could provide a route map for the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Business Recorder after repeated requests. Senior officials of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, when contacted, insisted that senior Chinese officials had urged the government to utilise existing infrastructure to fuel business activities along the CPEC route.
Once trade is boosted that would generate its own demand for project completion. According to officials, the 2,100-kilometer corridor would include special economic zones, railway system and a model city, airport as well as the free port at Gwadar. The officials categorically ruled out any plan to change the route to benefit any one province dismissing such claims as taking political mileage out of a development project.
When contacted, National Highway Authority (NHA) officials told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity that a feasibility study of the CPEC project has been completed; however, the construction contract is likely to be awarded by end March 2015 to the successful bidders.
The official further claimed that the proposed route would pass from Gwadar-Quetta-Dera Ismail Khan-Hassanabdal up to Kashghar. Awami National Party had expressed reservations over what it claimed was a route change that bypassed D I Khan and Quetta - a view supported by the PPPP. The officials maintained that he had received no directive of a route change.
According to officials, in the first phase, the existing Motorway from Lahore to Peshawar will be linked with Lahore to Karachi Motorway, linking south and north through a series of motorways. And in the second phase, construction from Gwadar to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) will start. To utilise the available infrastructure the government is upgrading Karakorum Highway up to Havelian with Chinese assistance, while in next three years N-85 will also be completed linking Ratodero to Gwadar. Political parties including opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), government ally Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and others have also expressed serious reservations at what they allege is a route change.