NAVEED BUTT

ISLAMABAD: The Special Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project has proposed to explore possibility of linking CPEC corridors of Balochistan with Iran and Afghanistan to enhance trade and bring development and prosperity in the area.

The committee met with Senator Taj Haider in the chair at Parliament House on Monday. The committee discussed western route of the Corridor and visit of the committee to Gwadar and its reports. It was an internal meeting which was attended by Senators Karim Ahmed Khawaja, Saeedul Hassan Mandokhel and Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar and others.

The Senate Special Committee on the project of Economic Corridor in its last meeting before Senate elections finalized drafts of the committee’s fourth and fifth interim reports on the visits to Gwadar and China, respectively.

The committee has also recommended for working on joint economic zones between China and Pakistan. The members of the committee said that this would materialize by having economic zones in China for facilitating Pakistan and its people on the pattern of economic zones in Pakistan which are facilitating China and its people.

The members of the committee discussed the fourth interim report and fifth interim report on meeting with Chinese government officials and visit to Gwadar respectively. The members of the committee also discussed the western route of the CPEC.

The committee stressed upon the need for expediting work on the western route of CPEC and removing confusions about the route. The committee also decided to include in its report the route which is Yarik-DI Khan–Zhob–Quetta–Khuzdar.

The committee also observed that since all development in coming years will be around the CPEC routes in the concerned areas, so it is of high significance to remove all confusion about the route.

The committee members said that Pakistan is a developing country and the CPEC is a great opportunity to enhance Pakistan’s economy. They said that CPEC is a major part of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, the major global initiative by the Chinese government scheduled to be completed by 2030.

According to the sources, the CPEC is a joint project that Beijing and Islamabad agreed to finance through Chinese investments utilizing investment loans largely by Chinese financial institutions; nevertheless, Pakistan will also be responsible for investing approximately $15 billion on its own in the process.