Soon after assuming power, PM Nawaz Sharif paid a visit to China where the historic MoU for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was signed on 5th July 2013 in the presence of the Prime Ministers of both countries. This MoU kick-started a series of economic activities which can prove to be a game-changer for the entire region and uplift the lives of about 3 billion people across China, Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East.
The corridor will link Kashghar in Western China with the deep sea Port in Gwadar, Pakistan through a mesh of communication networks comprising of a world-class seaport, commercial sea lines, an airport, highways, railways, fiber optic cables as well as oil and gas pipelines. For China, CPEC is part of a wider "One Belt, One Road" strategy to develop its western region and link the Silk Route Economic Belt to the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route. Chinese President Xi Jinping also proposed forging a China-Pakistan community of Shared Destiny during his meeting with President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain on 19 Feb, 2014. For Pakistan, it is the realisation of one of seven pillars of growth relating to regional connectivity of its development strategy Vision 2025, that aims to make the country the next Asian Tiger. Today, a crucial chapter in the history of this mega-project stands to be inked with the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pakistan.
The history of China and Pakistan's deep "all-weather" friendship based on political and historical alliance is spread over generations, but the corridor marks a new phase in this relationship by putting economic co-operation and connectivity squarely at the centre of the bilateral agenda. It is a strategic economic partnership that will transform Pakistan into a geo-economic hub linking China, South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia offering great opportunities for investors from all over the world.
The aim of the July 2013 MoU was to enable the two Governments to cooperate in the planning and development of CPEC and intensify economic activity along the Corridor. For this, the Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform (MPD&R) was declared the focal Ministry, which has formed a Joint Co-operation Committee (JCC) with its counterpart in China, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The long-term plan for CPEC defines the overall direction, ideas and goals of co-operation from present to 2030, which will unfold in a series of short, medium to long term goals derived on the basis of research, feasibility studies and due diligence. Separate Joint Working Groups in the fields of energy, infrastructure, Gwadar and long term planning consisting of relevant experts from both sides have been formulated. These working groups and the joint co-operation committee have been meeting periodically over the past two years. Due to the hard work of leadership, diplomats and officials of both countries, a portfolio of $45 billion to be undertaken under CPEC has been approved in record time.
CPEC will cater to the needs of all federating units through extensive rail and road network and multiple projects in energy sector. The Corridor project comprises of modern highway and railway transportation system; linking Kashgar in West China, to Khunjrab in the north and onwards to Karachi and Gwadar in the south of Pakistan through multiple routes. Energy sector has been assigned top priority to help Pakistan overcome energy shortages in order to achieve higher growth rates for speedy development. The corridor projects initially envisage $34 billion investment in energy sector and around $11 billion in infrastructure sector.
Both countries have finalised plans to add 10,400 MWs of electricity capacity through early harvest energy generation projects spread all across the country to be completed by the year 2017/18, and another 6,645 MWs of projects for energy on the actively promoted list. All energy projects will be on commercial basis in investment mode. After completing all the requisite regulatory and other facilitation requirements the two sides are nearing financial close for 200 MW wind power projects, 5,580 MWs of coal based power generation projects, 1,590 MW hydro power project, 1,000 MW solar project and 3.8 MTPA coal mining project which will be launched during President Xi Jinping's visit. Remaining projects are in pipeline and will be launched upon completion of procedures.
Gwadar Port Project is the centerpiece of Pak-China Strategic Partnership with its strategic location and potential for becoming the future economic and energy hub. The cluster of projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will transform it into one of the world's leading port cities having top-class commercial and tourist facilities, integrated infrastructure and investment opportunities. This will make Gwadar a catalyst for development of Makran Coast and Balochistan in particular, and Pakistan in general.
CPEC is not the name of a single route or alignment, rather it is a comprehensive package of co-operative initiatives and projects encompassing regional connectivity, information network infrastructure, energy co-operation, industries and industrial parks, agricultural development and poverty alleviation, tourism, financial co-operation as well as livelihood improvement including municipal infrastructure, education, public health and people-to-people communication which will result in thousands of new ventures and millions of jobs in every part of country.
Secondly, CPEC will benefit all provinces and bring peace, harmony, co-operation and economic development in the entire country. The provincial capitals Quetta, Peshawar, Karachi, and Lahore are all major nodes of the project, whilst less-developed regions of the country including FATA, KPK, AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan, South Punjab, Thar in interior Sindh and Gwadar in Baluchistan, will be brought into the folds of active development. Harnessing the wealth of hitherto untapped coal reserves for the last 67 years in drought-ridden Thar will transform it into an energy capital of the world.
The investment in various projects of CPEC which are to be realised in 2015 has sent positive signals across the globe, and Moody's rating of Pakistan has improved from stable to promising. International media is also highlighting the significance of the project. CPEC will show way to investors from other parts of world to invest in Pakistan, which is a 200 million market with great location advantage, rich resources and extremely talented people. Creating any controversies and invoking misplaced prejudices at a historic time like this when the country has the chance to change its fate for the better would be a great disservice to the country. We can learn great lessons from the experience of China, whose development from a war-torn and pastoral country to the world's second largest economy took place on the principles of social solidarity and political stability. At the same time these principles have remained elusive in Pakistan, whose development scheme got side-tracked time and again by civil-military tussle and inconsistencies in policies, pushing us into the list of least developed countries. Chinese Leader Deng Xiao Ping framed a vision in 1979 for China to become a middle-income country by 2049, and China achieved the goals much earlier by following a methodical and step by step approach based on continuity of policies. Pakistan's own Vision documents of the past notwithstanding, today we have a strategic development framework in the form of Vision 2025 which has been praised by President Xi Jinping during the Apec Summit, that aims to put Pakistan in the world's top twenty five economies by 2025 and the CPEC can make this dream come true.
Today, history has offered another opportunity. Forging an equilibrium between stability, reform and delivery holds key to any country's success. Shakespeare said, "There is a tide in the affairs of man, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; quitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the currents when it serves, or lose our ventures." We can't afford to miss this tide. At this historic juncture let's resolve to stand together as a nation in warmly welcoming our Chinese counterparts and creating an enabling environment for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor to fulfil our ambition of making it one of 21st Century's most transformational projects.
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