Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was told on Wednesday that the western route was being built as per the all parties conference (APC) guidelines, and would be completed by 2018, while the project’s 6th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) would meet on November 28 in Beijing.

The Parliamentary Committee on CPEC met at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed. The committee got a detailed and comprehensive briefing from Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, who informed the members that the JCC, which is the apex body for the CPEC, would hold its 6th meeting in Beijing on November 28-29, 2016. Before that meeting, the joint working groups would be held in first half of November.

He also announced that five joint Pakistan-China workshops would be held to learn from the Chinese experience in urban and rural development, poverty alleviation and industrial parks.

Ahsan Iqbal informed the participants that as per the directives of the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC, all the provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan would be invited to the JCC meeting in Beijing.

Senator Mushahid Hussain appreciated this initiative to hold workshops and include the provinces in the JCC meeting and said, “The CPEC should move forward with full consensus, transparency and inclusive development, particularly that of less developed areas like Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan.”

He also said that Gilgit-Baltistan was being fully included in the CPEC through eco-friendly economic projects in different areas. He said that a regional grid for Gilgit-Baltistan was being established, while initiatives like a plan for promoting tourism in the area, laying of Khunjerab-Islamabad fibre optic cable, projects for mining minerals, setting up of hydropower projects, upgradation of the Karakoram Highway, establishment of an engineering university and a medical college were in the pipeline.