Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was informed on Thursday that Gwadar International Airport was being constructed at a cost of $260 million dollars.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed.  The amount for the airport is a full grant from the Chinese government and this would be an airport of international standards capable of handling the largest of passenger planes including the A380 Boeing Jet.

Additionally, the Chinese government has given a grant of $10 million dollars for building the Pakistan-China Vocational and Technical Training Institute which will be helping the local population of Gwadar in getting skills and employment.

The meeting of the committee began with a briefing by the chairman on their recent visit to China. He also presented the report on the visit which took place during May 21-27, 2016. The members appreciated the invitation from the Chinese government to the Parliamentary Committee and also praised the positive work that the committee undertook during its visit to China.

Member of the Parliamentary Committee Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo was also congratulated in the meeting for his assumption of the office of Minister for Ports and Shipping. The meeting also expressed hopes that under Bizenjo’s leadership, the Gwadar Port project would take off in the near future.

The Minister for Port and Shipping as well as the Gwadar Port Authority Chairman and Ministry of Ports and Shipping Secretary gave a comprehensive update on the development work pertaining to Gwadar port.  The GPA chairman also informed that the water problem of Gwadar was being sorted out with the construction of Sawad dam through which water would be made available to Gwadar through an 83 km pipeline and the water shortage would be resolved.

A briefing was also given on the various financial incentives being provided to potential investors in the Special Economic Zone of Gwadar, as a result of which, there was growing interest among investors both in Pakistan and abroad for investment in the Special Economic Zone. With these new incentives, the Gwadar port is also being activated and three new ships would arrive from China, bringing construction material in July 2016.

Regarding the provision of electricity for Gwadar, the committee was informed by the Ministry of Water and Power that as a result of an agreement with an Iranian company, an additional 100 MW of electricity would be available for Gwadar by the end of 2017.

Speaking on the occasion, the chairman said that during his visit to China, he underlined that the Parliamentary Committee in its working was guided by three key principles namely; consensus through consultation with all political parties and provinces, transparency in projects and decision making and inclusive development, with a focus on implementation in letter and spirit of the decisions taken at All-Parties Conference held at the Prime Minister’s House on May 28, 2015.

Among these decisions, building of Western route on priority basis was agreed unanimously by all leaders and political parties, as well as the rapid development of Gwadar port while ensuring that the rights of the citizens of the region are fully protected. He also referred to his recent participation and speech on CPEC at the Silk Road Forum organized in Warsaw, Poland to promote connectivity between Europe and Asia.

He said that there was a clear consensus that CPEC was the centerpiece, the flagship, pilot project of the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, hence failure was not an option and ‘the people of Pakistan were unwavering in their determination to construct the CPEC as it is in the interest of Pakistan and its people’.

He said that in line with the work plan of the committee, now the Parliamentary Committee would interact with the Government of Punjab during July 21-23, 2016, which would include a briefing by the Punjab Chief Minister as well as visits to the Sahiwal Power project and Bahawalpur solar project. The committee would also interact with all the provinces which had been done in the case of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Balochistan.

The NHA Chairman briefed the committee in detail regarding the progress being made on the Western route which he said would be completed by August 2018. Work on it was already underway at different segments and this would initially be a modern 4-lane highway which would eventually be upgraded into a 6-lane motorway, for which planning was underway.

He said that the allocations have already been made and construction is underway on the fast track for the construction of the Western route which would be completed a year earlier than the Eastern route since priority was being accorded to the Western route in accordance with the decision of All Parties Conference of May 28, 2015 as well as the directive of the prime minister issued in January 2016 on constructing the Western route on priority.

The committee directed the Ministry of Planning and Development to prepare a projection of requirement for electricity for Gwadar and Balochistan as a whole.

After hearing detailed arguments, the committee unanimously directed that given the track record of FWO in construction of roads in difficult terrain of Balochistan as well as in view of security situation in certain parts of the province where the FWO has already delivered, the 110 km of the Khuzdar-Bassima highway be completed also by the FWO so that the project gets underway.

The meeting was attended by Senator Lt. Gen. (R) Salahuddin Tirmizi, Senator Baz Mohammad Khan, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Ghous Bux Mahar, Rana Mohammad Afzal, Mir Ijaz Jhakrani and secretary of the committee Khalid Mehmood.