ISLAMABAD – Senate’s special committee on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has expressed its reservations on the western route.
Senator Usman Kakar said the nation was being deceived on the western route of the CPEC, adding that the committee was not being informed about the decisions made in the joint meeting of the Pak-China committee.
Senator Noman Wazir Khattak said that benefits of the project to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other backward areas should be highlighted. He told the meeting that loans for CPEC were taken on high mark up.
Senator Dawood Achakzai said that government was only focusing on the eastern route of the CPEC and ignoring its western route.
Senator Farhatullah Babar in his address said that details of the decisions made regarding CPEC in the Pakistan-China joint committee should be presented before the Senate.
Balochistan Minister for Education Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal said that the residents of Gwadar, the focal point the economic corridor, were facing severe shortage of clean drinking water.
On this, the planning secretary informed the committee it was decided in a meeting that the government would self-finance the western route of the economic corridor.
Railways Secretary Parveen Agha said that main lines of the Pakistan Railway would be upgraded under the CPEC project, adding that construction of the western route had been approved by the joint committee, whose feasibility report would be soon made available.
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