The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government will take up the construction of two proposed hydel projects for financing under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the next meeting with the Chinese government.
Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, Khusro Bakhtiar informed the committee that the present government has reprioritized energy projects of the CPEC. The government has dropped or put on the back burner the energy projects running on imported coal including 1,380MW power project at Raheem Yar Khan, he said.
Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday chaired the first meeting of Special Committee on the CPEC Projects to review the progress being made.
"The Ministry of Planning has been working along with the Ministry of Energy on proposed projects being run on indigenous coal including 4000 MW Thar Power Project," the minister said.
He further said that the government is adopting an integrating approach by putting focus on power generation, distribution and transmission equally. "Circular debt might not have reached Rs 1.2 trillion if the previous government had equally focused on distribution and transmission of power," he pointed out.
A member of the committee asked if there is any proposal regarding construction of hydel power project in Chitral. To this an official of the ministry said that the ministry with the help of Energy Ministry has been working on the proposal.
Responding to a question with regard to financing of power projects, the minister informed the committee that all power projects would be completed in the IPP mode through commercial agreements.
He further said that the government is working on expansion of CPEC framework and expediting the implementation process on these projects. "It is misconception that the PTI government is cutting development expenditures by Rs 200 billion as the budget 2017-18 envisaged Rs 800 billion layout," minister added.
The minister said that the government is planning to fund the Western Route from the Public Sector Development Program. These projects are imperative for regional economic growth and socio-economic development, he added.
Member committee Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar alleged the government for focusing on the projects of the National Highway Authority falling in Punjab. He claimed that no progress was made on roads which come under the Western Route.
The officials of the ministry informed the committee that the ministry is trying to finance the Western Route project through the Chinese government.
The chairperson committee criticized the ministry for delaying road projects of Balochistan under the CPEC.
The minister for planning blamed the previous government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) over setting the priority on western and eastern routes. "The priority should be given to ML-1 Railways Project (Peshawar-Lahore-Karachi,) instead of Orange Line Train and Motorway projects," he added.
He further said that the Eastern Route will be monetized and its contract would be given on the BOT basis.
"The government is interested in bringing investment from the third country in the CPEC railways projects to minimize the risk factor of the government," he said.
He said that the government is holding an economic return study on traffic inflow of railways.
The minister admitted that no progress has been made between Pakistan and China in industrial cooperation during the last four years. "Even a single special economic zone (SEZ) has not been made operational in the last four years," he said.