ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China reviewed and summarised the implementation status of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project’s long-term plan.
The third meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) between the government of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China was held on Monday to review the long-term plan of the CPEC.
The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives Syed Zafar Ali Shah and Pan Jiang through a video conference with an interval of three years. Director General of the National Development and Reforms Commission of China, representatives of ministries of Foreign Affairs, Aviation, Finance, Economic Affairs, Gwadar Port Authority, Gwadar Development Authority, as well as, representatives of their counterparts in China also attended the meeting.
The meeting reviewed and summarised the implementation status of the CPEC projects and deliberated upon the future course of action with regard to the implementation of the CPEC long-term plan. Both sides expressed satisfaction on the steady progress made on various projects and agreed to start deepening the work done and then execution of the second phase of the CPEC, which is focused on agriculture cooperation, industrial cooperation, science and technology, information technology, and socioeconomic development.
Major deliverable CPEC projects discussed
It was noted that since the last meeting of JWG on Planning and CPEC Long Term Plan held in November 2019 a number of developments have taken place. Globally this period remained marred by Covid-19 pandemic preventing the free movement of people between countries and regions. Despite these restrictions and difficulties posed by the pandemic, substantial progress has been achieved.
The meeting was also informed that the Government of Pakistan was actively implementing various projects, in close collaboration with the provincial governments to ensure efficient and time completion with a view to view to make the CPEC a roaring success and directly monitoring the progress of these projects on a monthly basis.
The two sides resolved to redouble the efforts to tap the full potential of cooperation, as well as, to make sure that the population of Pakistan fully benefit from the projects by utilising the massive opportunities being created in various sectors. Pakistani side proposed the inclusion of “Water Resources Management and Climate Change” as new area of cooperation under the framework of the CPEC for efficient water resources management, and development of climate resilient infrastructure.
Both sides noted that out of 26 CPEC-Early Harvest Projects, 14 projects including Karachi-Lahore Motorway: Multan-Sukkur Section, KKH (Phase-II) upgradation and reconstruction from Raikot to Islamabad via Mansehra, Eastbay Expressway, 1320MW Port Qasim Power Plant, 1320MW Sahiwal Power Plant and 720MW Karot HPP, etc., have been completed, while currently, five projects including New Gwadar International Airport and 873MW Suki Kinari HPP, etc., are under execution.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022