Daily Times

In response to the collective airing of grievances regarding the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by opposition political parties at the All Parties Conference (APC) organised by Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif called an APC of his own yesterday to alleviate the growing concerns. The dominant demand of the discontented political parties during the BNP-M organised conference was for the PM himself to address them and assure them definitively that the agreement reached by consensus on May 28th last year (where it was decided to prioritise construction in the underdeveloped western provinces) was being respected in letter and spirit. It is therefore heartening to note that the PM promptly accepted this demand and called this APC, where representatives of all provincial governments and political parties attended. This shows that the state of democracy is in good health, with political parties across the aisle willing to engage with each other and show the necessary amount of flexibility. Even more encouraging is the result of this latest APC, as the preliminary reports suggest that a consensus agreement has been reached that suggests the PM has been successful in allaying the fears that the CPEC will be province-biased and hence the disquieting impasse will hopefully end.
According to a statement released after the culmination of the APC, the PM will head an 11-member steering committee, including in it the Chief Ministers (CM) of all four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan, which will periodically meet to review progress on the CPEC. In addition, the PM reaffirmed that the western route (passing through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan) will be built on priority basis and also assured that setting up of industrial parks will be done in consultation with the provincial governments. Under this agreement a dedicated cell of the federal Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform was formed for prompt sharing of information and coordination with the provincial governments. The participants from the opposition confirmed their satisfaction with the new institutional framework being set up. The re-established consensus is undoubtedly a highly welcome development as collective democratic decisions are good for the future of the country. Now that the PM has seemingly resolved the dispute before it became irreversibly detrimental, it can be confidently stated that the apprehensions being expressed were indeed misplaced. But now that the political consensus has been reached, it is important to take stock of its implications for the construction of CPEC. The Chinese government preferred development on the eastern route to take place first precisely because relatively developed infrastructure already existed and there was thus a higher chance of quicker returns on investment. But the western route is virgin territory, and construction of transport and other infrastructure virtually from scratch will take far more time and money. The dissenting sections of the political class, despite being reassured, should be prepared for the undeniable fact that the benefits of the western route will take time to mature.