Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal has said that Joint Working Group of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for agriculture sector has been established for development of seed, drip-irrigation, fruits and vegetables as well as meat industry.
"China under the CPEC will provide new technology to Pakistan in which we will move towards value added agriculture. We have invited China Working Group on Agriculture in the second week of August to visit Pakistan. The CPEC is a national project of Pakistan and it is directly linked with the development of the country. The CPEC has positively impacted our foreign investment and growth rate," the minister expressed these views in a press conference after holding a meeting about CPEC review projects.
He said that the meeting discussed Gwadar projects, particularly relating to water and electricity. He said, "We discussed agreement of Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) with FWO for desalination plant. If Balochistan government agrees then Gwadar will get 200,000 gallons of water per day." He said that Gwadar will get 450 million gallons of water per day with the connectivity of two dams in Balochistan. He said that Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved water desalination plant for 5 million galleons of water per day. "For this purpose we are requesting the Balochistan government to fulfill requirements to flout the project. Federal government has fund for this project and we will go ahead soon after the bidding process of the Balochistan government," he added. "The situation of water will be improved in Gwadar in next eight months. It will be last season for the people to face water problem and from next year they will not face this issue," he claimed.
About shortage of electricity in Gwadar, he said, "It is very concerning for us that a power plant of 300MW could not be launched due to non-availability of land from Balochistan government. We discussed the projects about Basima-Khuzdar Road and Quetta-Zhob Road under CPEC with Chinese officials in the meeting. We want to expedite these projects which are funded by China," he said.
He said that the meeting also discussed special economic zones. He said road shows will be organized in China in August or September this year for establishing economic zones in Pakistan under the CPEC.
When asked about subsidy for establishment of economic zones, he said that Board of Investment (BoI) will hold meeting with Finance Ministry in this week to define and streamline rules of process for giving incentives to investors.
About ML-I projects of railway, he said, "We have sought terms of financing from China as well as complete data set of study form Railways Ministry for valuation of the project cost."
Answering another question, he said, "We will fail if any community is insecure in the country." He said that Hazara community is very peaceful and added that he is going to Quetta for showing solidarity with them. He said that he would also hold meeting with law and enforcement agencies to discuss the law and order of Quetta.
He said that National Counter Terrorism Authority has been directed to prepare registration policy about religious seminaries in collaboration with the representatives of seminaries and provinces within two days. He said that the Prime Minister will soon announce a comprehensive package for mainstreaming religious seminaries. He said the government has been making efforts to resolve issues of religious seminaries in collaboration with Tanzeem Ul Madaris under the National Action Plan.
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