The goal of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is to transform Pakistan' economy by modernizing its road, rail, air, and energy transportation systems and connect the deep-sea ports of Gwadar and Karachi to China and other global economies.
Ahsan Iqbal, who also accompanied Advisor on Finance during press briefing on economic survey (2017-18) said that another 15,000MW would be added under the CPEC till 2025. "Our main focus in current fiscal year regarding China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is on energy, industrial and infrastructure projects as well as connectivity of Gwadar Port." Through the CPEC, Pakistan is harnessing its geo-strategic location into a geo-economic advantage. It is a massive bilateral project to improve soft and hard infrastructure within Pakistan for better trade with China.
He said that terrorism was at its peak and growth rate was 3 percent in the country in 2013 when the PML-N came into power. He said that the law and order of Karachi city was worst at that time. The minister further said more than 100 industries had been closed and investors were leaving the country.
He said now the situation in Pakistan is different. "At present Pakistan is more peaceful and safe and we curbed terrorism due to military operations and overcame load-shedding." He said that now the growth rate is 5.8 percent of the GDP of the country.
Iqbal said now Pakistan has become South Asia infrastructure economy under the CPEC. He said that industrial and agriculture sectors improved due to supply of electricity.
He said that political instability affected the growth of economy of the country. He said that the PML-N government could have achieved 6.1 percent growth rate of GDP if it had not faced political instability in the country. He said that the international organizations including World Bank have endorsed Pakistan's 5.8 percent growth rate, he added.
According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2017-18, the CPEC complements Pakistan Vision 2025 and Chinese concept of developing Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route. Through the CPEC, Pakistan is harnessing its geo-strategic location into a geo-economic advantage. It is a massive bilateral project to improve soft as well as hard infrastructure within Pakistan for better trade with China.
The survey further stated that numerous countries have shown interest in participating in the initiative. It is a framework of regional connectivity and a hope for regional peace, development and economic growth.
It is also described that since 2008, Gwadar Port handled around 6.474 metric tons cargo from 220 ships. The Chinese operators are working on increasing the number of ship calls at the port. Two ship-liners (COSCO & Sino-Trans) are calling regularly at the port. From May 2015, container business has also been started from Gwadar Port. From March 07, 2018 weekly container services have been started by COSCO.
The Economic Survey further revealed that in addition to road projects, Pakistan and China have agreed to establish a dry port at Havelian and the groundbreaking of the project is planned this year. Besides rail and road projects, the CPEC focuses on urban development in its nodal cities. For the purpose, the 6th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) has approved inclusion of mass transit system in all the four provinces that are in planning and execution phase; (i) Greater Peshawar Region Mass Transit, (ii) Quetta Mass Transit, (iii) Orange Line - Lahore and (iv) Karachi Circular Railways.
Pakistan and China are executing cross border fiber optic project (Khunjerab-Rawalpindi) and completion of the 820km long cable is planned in August 2018. The project will surely support IT sector development in northern parts of the country, besides connecting the Transit Europe-Asia Terrestrial Cable Network with Pakistan. A pilot project of Digital Television DTMB (Digital Terrestrial Multiband Broadcast) has also been completed under the CPEC.
The CPEC is another major breakthrough in the development of the country's energy sector under which financial outlay of around US $35 billion has been made for projects related to energy sector including power generation and transmission projects to be implemented in IPP mode.
The IMF has also stated that Pakistan's economy is showing strong signs of rising growth and price stability. The near term outlook for economic growth is broadly favourable supported by improved power supply, investment relating to the CPEC, strong consumption growth and ongoing recovery in agriculture.
The survey described that CPEC projects are expected to generate approximately 2 million jobs for skilled manpower.
According to Economic Survey 2017-18, under CPEC, the following projects will be completed during the FY 2017-18; (a) acquisition of land for railway container yard, station and railway line from sea port up to Coastal Highway at Gwadar (revised), (b) doubling/improvement of existing track from Port Qasim to Bin Qasim Station (CPEC), and (c) PC-II for feasibility study to connect Gwadar with Karachi.