Pakistan

K-P censures change in route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

Says Dera Ismail Khan had been removed from proposed list; whereas Layaah, Bhaakar and Multan have been included

Manzoor Ali April 22, 2015

K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. PHOTO: ONLINE

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Wednesday strongly criticised changes to the original plan of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Addressing a press conference at the Chief Minister House on Wednesday, Khattak raised concerns vis-à-vis the CPEC, which had has been a subject of speculation in media and political circles for the past many months.

The chief minister was candid about K-P’s concerns over the proposed projects, saying the route would only come to light once the province gets its due right.

Read: Politicians hit out at 'unfair' Pakistan-China Economic Corridor

The chief minister said the CPEC’s original plan envisaged to pass through Khunjerab, Gilgit, Kohistan, Shangla, Battagram, Mansehra, Abbotabad, Haripur, Hassanabad, Mianwali, Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazai Khan, Dera Murad Jamali, Khuzdar, Panjgur and Gawadar. However, after the realignment, Dera Ismail Khan had been removed from the proposed list; whereas Layaah, Bhaakar and Multan were included.

He further said out of the total agreements worth $27.7 billion, K-P’s share was $2.7 billion, whereas Punjab gets the lion share of $11 billion.

Sindh’s share, said Khattak, was $9 billion, while there was no mention of Balochistan.

Read: Baloch ire prompts security fears for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

Khattak also cast doubts over the Chinese investment spree, saying it did not appear transparent. He said under the present conditions, the two governments should sit down and agree on the projects, without any consideration for competition and open bidding.

The K-P chief minister demanded that the original project passing through DI Khan should be retained, adding that about seven to eight new cities were planned to be built around the route, but according to the new plan, not even a single one seems likely.

He also seemed skeptical about investment in coal, wind and solar projects, saying K-P had feasibilities of about 5,000MW of cheap hydroelectric projects.

Read: Pak-China corridor: Govt intends to approve 10,400MW projects by March

“We are searching for investors to invest in these projects and they (the federal government) are going after pricey projects,” he said.

Khattak said K-P, Bolchistan and Sindh had discussed this issue already and were on the same page.

“K-P would contest this injustice on every forum,” he said, adding that the federal government and departments concerned have so far not arranged a briefing on the subject despite repeated reminders by his government.

COMMENTS (23)

Ghulam Farid | 8 years ago | Reply Route 1,2,3 pass through all provinces. So no need of confusion in depriving any province. Its only some unhappy elements causing this confusion. We should understand agenda of these people for future. Its only their base which they want to establish and we should not believe them and let not them establish on this ground.

falak naz mardan | 8 years ago | Reply @James: you and all the above friends supported their stances by quoting from historical references which is not pragmatic but political. friends each and every one know the wounds of only kp and karachi people just for the survival of country we were not really terrorist but made for the cause but never objected. no one said anything good and brotherly but if now see material greed jumping like fox.stop your comments it is the right of those who can face hardships for the country and they are the only people of kp and karachi city the rest should mind their businesses.have you lost one of your near and dear.they are we who passed through the experience

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James | 8 years ago | Reply @VJ Yousafali: - A Very well thought and written comment Brother. Very recently there was a devastating attack on Chinese labour Hutments in South Africa. Reason was the local population was fed up with Chinese coming from Outside and taking their place in mining Operations. Look at Gwadhar Today and other Chinese Investments as well, Pakistan has already become a Colony of China and if I may use the term " a Slave" already. The Sharif Family is a business entity which is only interested in making money. Its true whether we like it or not. Why does Pakistan need China to bring its people. Why cant our own Population be trained and allowed to carry out the works themselves. This will solve a lot of our local issues. After all its a matter of Bread and butter for any human being.

Khan | 8 years ago | Reply Such prejudice in National level projects is going to further weaken the foundation of Pakistan. Baluchistan should get the greatest share & the rest of the provinces should get proportional share. Original plan should not be changed just to benefit some vote bank. This is not a provincial level project. Hydro power should be developed first. Its cheapest, durable & we have plentiful resources. The prices of electricity should be dropped & later other options should be considered. These baldheads are going to shake the foundation of Pakistan even further.

VJ Yousafali | 8 years ago | Reply My simple question to all who are praising the CPEC, what will Pakistan gain after that? Do you see Pakistan loosing their 'sovereignty' to China afterwards. Will Pakistan be able to protest to China for their interference on any of their internal matter? First they have captured 'Gawadar' port and now they are eying the CPED to slowly increase their interference in the country. More than Pakistan it'll be China who will benefit the most out of this. It'll bring prosperity to their 'Western' province. The promises they made to Pak maybe carried out or not, but they will first take care of their interest. Also why cannot Pak invite foreign Investment just like India? All the countries capital will remain in the country and also bring in rapid development from all investors. China is also not universally respected for Pakistan to be its close ally. Since Chinese does not believe in any religion, they will do their best to spread their ideas of communism among the poor Pakistani society endangering the Islamic leanings of the people. Think aloud and stop this slowly takeover of Pakistan by China to make it into 'Communist Republic of Pakistan'

Khummi | 8 years ago | Reply Pathetic statement from CM kpk, who is so consumed in his power game and fundamentalism that he is blinded by the fact that Shahbaz Shareef is working hard. After 18th amendment it's their right and obligation to reach out to the world and do whatever they want for the prosperity of the province. Economic corridor is solely federal govts. project whose biggest beneficiary would be baluchis. Your struggle to speculate about this project as you did with kalabagh will soon be answered with despair as people are much more aware now.

Rex Minor | 8 years ago | Reply @Rizwan: Well said. The recipe for the break up of Pakistan is there.The province of Punjab and its Chiefs can do it alone, the Sharifs do no longer require other provinces for the success of the country. Rex Minor

Adnan Siddiqi | 8 years ago | Reply @S Hashmi: Dear Mr. Hashmi, please look around and you will come across a lot of video clips showing the other CMs. Its our immature media that is infatuated with Shahbaz Sharif, it's not government's fault that the same media intentionally did not show the other CMs.

S Hashmi | 8 years ago | Reply @Adnan Siddiqi: Just answer one question Mr Siddiqi: Why were the other CMs not invited during the Chinese PM's visit? Lets see your explanation for that! I leave the leaned readers to be the judges.

Malveros | 8 years ago | Reply Haters will hate. Let the nincompoops sulk. Congrats to PML(N) for spearheading investment in the country.

Rizwan | 8 years ago | Reply @Pakistani: I'm Pashtun and I find your comment ridiculous. Why is everyone so jealous of punjab when it is the only properly run province? Sindh is run by an inept PPP and criminal MQM. KPK is run by a man more interested in getting power in punjab than kpk. Before that anp and JI did nothing for the province. Balochistan has always been a mess. So tell me, when political parties ruin the provinces by poor governance, how is this due to punjab???

roarwali | 8 years ago | Reply @Adnan Siddiqi: How much you get for each comment ?

Ahmed Haroon | 8 years ago | Reply @Grace: I doubt you are a Pakistani too, since the previous PMs (other then the caretaker one) were from Punjab, they ruled for a combined tenure of five years and one was from Multan (so technically Siraiki) and the other from Gujar Khan. Furthermore, the plan was changed to divert investment from the Western to the Eastern road link which is totally unacceptable. I hail from Karachi and even though the revised route would be more beneficial for Sindh, the original one would have gone a great deal to alleviate the sense of deprivation in Balochistan and KPK. Furthermore it would have resulted in huge job creation in these areas making people less vulnerable to support terrorists.All these jobs would now be created in Sindh and Punjab instead. Lastly the MOUs for half of these projects had already been signed in the previous tenure so the perception that SS had a large input in these projects is untrue. The project was first formally announced in May 2013 during the Chinese Prime Minister's visit to Pakistan in a press conference alongside the then President Zardari.

Yasir | 8 years ago | Reply After failing to anything worthwhile in his own province now resorts to 'ethnicity card'. We should also remember that khattak was also provincial irrigation minister during ppp era in 90s and he opposed Kalabagh dam project. Punjab's population is nearly 5 times of KPK so per capita investment is same in both provinces.

Salman | 8 years ago | Reply The sad reality of Pakistan. Politicians bicker and fight over issues. No sense of patriotism. Punjab, KP self interested shameless fools. Traitors to the nation, Heros for their own self interest. Shame on PTI on this show. Very disappointed by these crooks. With this attitude n behaviour, Pakistan will not prosper. Shame of these self centred so called representatives. Shame to the nth degree.

Fahad | 8 years ago | Reply @Adnan Siddiqi, you nincompoop, you seem to be dumb and blind! Who is Shahbaz Sharif? why the CM's of three other provinces not being sent to China, Saudi Arabia and other countries as emissaries of PM? PML-N is sowing discord among federating units by not involving all the provincial governments in the planning and decision making. This is not about Panjabi vs non Panjabi so those talking about is should just shut up. It is only about the greed of one party (or one family). I hope Baluchistan will get loin's share during this development and we will be able to alleviate the sense of deprivation among the common people in that region. Planning the corridor in the western side of the country will provide the people with new economic opportunities locally and will move them away from extremism.

Maaz Khan | 8 years ago | Reply Sitting here in Australia and want to burn my passport after reading this stupid statement of KPK CM. We deserved to be like this if we keep on blaming Punjab, for everything. Look at China they think of their own Country, while we stupid people are still caught up in the provincialism.

Grace | 8 years ago | Reply @Pakistani: I doubt you are Pakistani like you claim because you would know that the current PM is actually Kashmiri in origin and he has been in power for hardly two years. The previous PM was a Sindi who ruled for five years and before that was a Muhajir who ruled for almost ten years. All Pakistanis,including the majority population who are Punjabis are happy about the Chinese investment since it will help every province. We know in advance that certain agencies funded from abroad will now speed up plans to create discord, encourage violence and encourage dharna behaviour to stop development and progress. It won't succeed since most reasonable Pakistanis want these projects to develop and transform the whole country whether KPK, Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan or Northern Areas. The Western limb of the corridor will be built when there is stability in those regions which is coming soon. This must also scare you to know that development is coming in a big way all over Pakistan.

ziaurrehman | 8 years ago | Reply This guy @Adnan SiddQue taking the job of Jati Umra's mat clean to the next level. :).

Adnan Siddiqi | 8 years ago | Reply @Pakistani: You are a poster boy for Prozac old buddy. Even a counterfeit one would cure your depression.

Adnan Siddiqi | 8 years ago | Reply One should applaud the audacity, shamelessness and infallible petulance of these traitors who are now crying over a project which was initiated by a rigged Prime Minister and a rigged government. Had this junkie CM spent 126 days in his province instead of dancing his malnourished backside to the tunes of his brainless leader on top of a container, he wouldn't have been complaining right now. 18th amendment is the order of the day now. If you have the talent, showcase your province as an attractive investment venue to the outside world like Shahbaz Sharif does. Otherwise, you are free to roll a joint and get high.

Pakistani | 8 years ago | Reply Stand up Mr. CM. We are with you......These Punjabis have looted everything from every nook and corner of Pakistan just to benefit Punjab. Interestingly the Punjabi Prime Minster cannot think outside of Punjab.

Zaffar | 8 years ago | Reply Seems the Punjab PM's good work has started showing their original colors. Punjab China Economic Corridor will be great success once materialized.

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