Daily Times

The federal government has earmarked Rs23 billion for 17 projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2021-22.

According to the budgetary documents, the government has allocated Rs5 billion for the construction of Zhob to Kuchlak Road-a part of CPEC Western Corridor, of which the total cost is estimated at Rs 63 billion.

Similarly the government allocated Rs 6 billion for the “Up-gradation of Pakistan Railways existing Main Line-1 (ML-1) and Establishment of Dryport near Havelian (2018-22) Phase-1”.

The government also earmarked Rs500 million for the project “Preliminary Design /Drawings for Up-gradation/Rehabilitation of Mainline (ML-I) and Establishment of Dryport Near Havelian under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Hiring of Design/ Drawing Vetting Consultants”. Likewise, for construction of KKH Phase-II Havelian-Thakot (118.057 KM) part of CPEC, an amount of Rs1.5 billion has been set aside.

For the land acquisition of Karachi-Lahore Motorway (Lahore-Abdul Hakeem, Multan-Sukkur, Sukkur Hyderabad motorway, the government has allocated Rs 4.611 billion. Likewise, the project “Land Acquisition and Resettlement for CPEC-Islamabad-Raikot Section (Phase-I), Havelian-Thakot (120.12 km), would get Rs50 million during the upcoming fiscal year.

The project “Nokundi- Mashkhel Road CPEC (Deposit Work)” would get Rs1.5 billion, whereas an amount of Rs 2 billion has been set aside for the project “Improvement and widening of Chitral-Booni-Mastuj-Shandur”. An amount of Rs500 million has been allocated for a project “5 MGD RO Sea Water Desalination Plant at Gwadar, Rs 400 million for “Gwadar Smart Environmental and Sanitation System and Landfill,” Rs150 million for “Academic Collaboration under CPEC Consortium of Universities”, and Rs684 million have been set aside for “Strengthening of Core Network & Expansion of PERN footprints through CPEC Optical Fiber (PERN-III)”.

The government also allocated Rs50 million each for the “Construction of Offices for Intelligence Bureau along with CPEC (Soost, Gawadar, Khuzdar, Turbat, Mansehra, Gilgit) and “Construction of Blacktop Road from CPEC Kharan Yak Mach Road to Gul Kharmagai, District Washuk”. For establishment of CPEC Support Unit for Projects and Activities in Gwadar Port Authority (GPA), the government allocated Rs 9.68 million, for Center of Excellence for CPEC, PIDE, Rs150 million and for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Support Project (CPECSP) at Ministry of Railways, an amount of Rs 200 million has been allocated.