Long road to development: ‘PTI creating hurdles in CPEC, delaying uplift’

PML-N MNA says CPEC of international importance, should be decided soon

HARIPUR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA from NA-19 Babar Nawaz Khan said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government was creating obstacles for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The provincial government was doing so in a thinly-veiled attempt to cover its failure in fulfilling its promises, said Babar.

Babar was speaking to the media at his residence in Haripur on Wednesday. He added, the CPEC was the single largest investment in Pakistan that could trigger “real growth and economic activity,” not only in Haripur but in all of Hazara Division.



“Under this $46 billion project, the two countries will link their economies and the people in Asia and beyond with a golden opportunity to minimise unemployment,” he said. Babar added CPEC would help build infrastructure in the region.

Promises, promises

While praising the development promised by CPEC, Babar said CPEC was a 3,000-kilometre-long road network, a railway and a pipeline to transfer oil and gas to Kashgar from Gwadar. “It would act as a link for the new Silk Route, connecting three billion people living in Asia, Africa and Europe,” he added.

Babar said the Hazara Motorway project was part of CPEC and would help the government develop Hazara at a relatively faster pace. “The people of this region would have modern hospitals, schools, colleges, universities and above all, they will have job opportunities,” he added.

‘Creating hurdles’

Referring to the recent statements of the PTI government, Babar, who defeated PTI’s candidate Dr Raja Amir Zaman during the by-election held in August 2015 with a margin of more than 45,000 votes, came down hard on the PTI leadership. He said what PTI was doing was, in fact, creating hurdles in the development of country, especially in Hazara Division. Babar accused the PTI government of trying to cover its failures by raising irrelevant objections on a project of international importance.



“People of Hazara will not allow PTI to make CPEC another Kalabagh Dam,” he said, warning the public had already rejected PTI in by-elections and local government polls.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2016.