CPEC route controversy routed

ISLAMABAD: Some analysts may not agree even now but all the politicians of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan have agreed and a national consensus has been achieved on all the six contentious issues regarding Pak-China Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The route controversy has been routed and all the issues in this regard have been settled. These issues include routes of CPEC, priority route, structure and deadline of completion of Western Route, facilities along with both the routes and the methodology to be adopted for construction of economic zones.

The consensus reached in a meeting of the parliamentary leaders chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has left no room for inciting provincialism by giving an impression that smaller provinces are being ignored.

Under the principle of “One Corridor, Multiple Passages”, national leadership agreed that there would be multiple options for transportation through different roads but Western alignment of the corridor passing from Balochistan and KP would be completed on priority, with a deadline of July 16, 2018 and that it would be a four-lane road in the first phase which would be upgradeable to a six-lane motorway. It was also agreed that sites of economic zones would be finalised in consultation with provinces and facilities required for these zones would be a shared responsibility of federal and provincial governments.

The sources told ‘The News’ that all the participants agreed that any reservations of provinces would be presented before the newly established 11-member committee headed by the prime minister and no controversial statements would be issued to media as Chinese were already disturbed because of recent controversies. The committee would meet after every three months.

While there were a few trying to fuel provincialism, even main critic of different aspect of CPEC, KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak, after the conclusion of Friday’s high-level meeting of parliamentary leaders, stated that he had no objection whatsoever on any route of the corridor.

“I am not at all against any route and all routes will bring prosperity to Pakistan.

We always demanded early completion of Western Route along with all facilities required to make economic zones operational and successful,” said Khattak after the meeting. There was never a big dispute on this point and only federal government was unable to explain things accurately and in time. Now not only federal government had satisfied all the parliamentary leaders from the provinces of KP and Balochistan about the Western Route but had also removed all doubts of different leaders about the Eastern Route which would be completed later.

Eastern Route was being used by some to incite hatred and instigate provincialism and an impression was being given that on recommendation of Pakistan, both countries (Pakistan and China) had agreed only Eastern Route only and that Western Route would never be completed. As a matter of fact, it was always a known fact that Western Route would be constructed by Pakistan at its own and there would be no Chinese investment for this. China is not at all investing in any road projects in any province. It is also untrue that Pakistan has made China agreed to construct Eastern Route passing through Sindh and Punjab. Pakistan has requested China for loan only for Multan-Sukkur section of Eastern Route and it will not be a Chinese investment. Rest of the Eastern Route will be completed by federal government at its own. Chinese bank loan will be used for Multan-Sukkur section of Eastern Route and Western Route will be completed by federal government at its own and these are the declared facts which had been discussed many times.

Question arises if China is not investing on Western Route then it will not be a route of CPEC. Definitely it will be a major and shortest route of the corridor. Some more questions include; whether China is providing a loan for a section of Eastern Route to make it part of CPEC and excludes the rest part of this route from CPEC. Whether China’s investment on a certain project is a must condition to make that project a part of CPEC. These are certain points being made and propagated to confuse things. Officials disagree with the logic of such questions and maintain that all projects in progress now are meant for development of Pakistan and betterment of its economy. The energy or infrastructure projects where China was not interested are being completed by using indigenous resources or by acquiring international loans and all provinces have big shares and will be very much beneficial from all these projects.

It is also being propagated to incite provincialism that Pakistan and China governments have not only agreed but work on “economic zones” has also been started secretly. It is a terribly provocative and conspiratorial thing as work on economic zones is impossible without completion of roads and major energy projects. According to experts, starting construction of such zones in any province at this stage will wastage of investment as no such zone can become functional till completion of infrastructure and energy projects.

During initial stages, different projects were made part of CPEC but some of which were excluded later after objections from either side. These projects are also being made a source of spreading confusions and instigating provincialism. Likewise there was a suggestion to make Lahore Orange Train Project a part of CPEC but this was not done and Punjab government decided to directly negotiate with China, an initiative which is lacking in case of other provinces because inefficiency of respective governments and politicking. The loan to be acquired for Orange Train Project will be returned by Punjab government and not by the federal government. However, some analysts are using wrong facts about Orange Train Project to fuel provincialism. 

It is a known fact that the work on widening and up-gradation of railway tracks across the country and laying of fibre optics in Gilgat and KP is in progress. These facts are announced many times and can be observed on ground. There are attempts to give an impression that “work on these projects is secretly underway”. Objectives behind portraying these projects as “secret” are the same again.

All the parties from Balochistan and KP and federal government have principally agreed on all aspects of Western and Eastern routes of CPEC and provision of all infrastructure facilities along with routes needed to make economic zones operational. Yes, there are some genuine demands of Balochistan leaders regarding Gwadar port and issues about denial of rights to Baloch people in past. No doubt, all these issues needed to be discussed and sorted out as per complete satisfaction of Baloch leaders. However, a successful consensus has been achieved on all the basic issues relating to CPEC which were being used in media to fuel provincialism. In fact, there were some misunderstandings which have been addressed. Issues highlighted by Baloch leaders recently however need to be addressed at the earliest.

During Friday’s meeting, there were demands of coal based power projects in KP which, according to experts, are not feasible as higher transportation charges of coal will result in production of very expensive electricity. Many high cost mega hydropower projects are being completed in KP which will return huge benefits to the province. There was also a demand of constructing transmission lines in KP as being done in Punjab. This demand was acknowledged as a genuine one but transmission lines can only be installed when they are needed. These will definitely be needed in KP as energy projects of more than 10,000MW are being completed. Officials say that construction of such transmission lines will definitely be added in projects list at an appropriate time after a suggestion from the provincial government.