ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary body of the Upper House on Monday recommended to the government to include the Diamer-Bhash Dam, construction of an airport in Gilgit-Baltistan, and an industrial park in projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
A committee was constituted to resolve a boundary dispute between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. Senator Sajid Mir chaired the committee. Headed by Ministry of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan affairs secretary, the committee will submit its report within 15 days to the minister of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan about demarcation of boundaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with GB.
The demarcation matter was moved in the parliamentary panel through a petition by former senator Syed Muzammil Shah and others. Deputy Commissioner Mansehra, while briefing the committee on the matter, said that the dispute would be resolved soon. Chief Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan said that the border line exists on the Babusar Top, adding the matter could be resolved amicably.
Senior officials at the ministry of Kashmir and GB affairs were of the opinion that as far as the issue of encroachments in Gitti Dass area and Babusar Top was concerned, the collector Mansehra was fully empowered to take action and remove any illegal encroachments in the territorial limits of the province. They said that the GB government had always discouraged such encroachments in the territorial jurisdiction of Mansehra.
Briefing the committee on CPEC projects in Gilgit-Baltistan, high officials of Planning Commission, said that a number of projects were currently underway that included upgrading the Karakoram Highway, the construction of an alternate CPEC route from Pasan Nagar-Ganish Hunza, the construction of an expressway from Gilgit to Chitral and other road networks.
They said that the projects also included a railway track from Khunjerab to Islamabad, besides upgrading the GB airport. Work on 200 km Khunjrab-Islamabad cross border fibre optic project is in progress which would be completed in December next year due to which the telecom sector would get a tremendous boost in the coming three years.
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