Two steps forwards…
Given existing provincial disparities, with Punjab having lion’s share of most, other provinces were going to cry foul
The CPEC has a footprint in every province as well as in Gilgit-Baltistan — but not equally so, particularly in the eyes of those provinces wherein the western route of the project lies. PHOTO: AFP
…and one step backwards appears to be the continuing narrative surrounding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). That the project in its entirety would, on completion, be nothing short of a game changer for Pakistan at every conceivable level, it was always going to be one fraught with difficulties and pitfalls. The reasons for this are not hard to see. A lack of transparency at the centre is at the heart of the difficulty, the autocratic manner in which the ruling party has pursued the project and the lack of consultation along the way. Not unsurprisingly, the Chinese who are bankrolling the project are to be found standing at points along the way with pursed lips and toes tapping in irritation and frustration.
The CPEC has a footprint in every province as well as in Gilgit-Baltistan — but not equally so, particularly in the eyes of those provinces wherein the western route of the project lies. Given the existing provincial disparities in terms of just about everything, with Punjab having the lion’s share of most, the other provinces were going to cry ‘foul’ — particularly as the vital consultation phase in the earliest stages of the project had been skipped. Rumblings from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have increased in volume, prompting some half-hearted efforts to be a little less opaque, and the failure of an All-Parties Conference to allay provincial concerns has now forced the government — for this read ‘the Punjab Brothers plc’ — into a U-turn regarding the 12 special economic zones it had designated in Balochistan and K-P and set up an 11-member special committee to oversee the completion of the western arm by July 2018. This is unlikely to solve anything. It is going to be headed by the prime minister himself whose investment in its efficient functioning is unlikely to be much beyond the cursory lip service. ‘Consultation’ and ‘consensus’ are to be the new watchwords. Allegedly. The CPEC at the purely conceptual level has received consistent support in these columns, which have equally consistently noted the clumsiness of the government when it comes to the equitable management of a project that is of benefit to every single person in Pakistan. Politicians — they never learn, do they.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2016.
The CPEC has a footprint in every province as well as in Gilgit-Baltistan — but not equally so, particularly in the eyes of those provinces wherein the western route of the project lies. Given the existing provincial disparities in terms of just about everything, with Punjab having the lion’s share of most, the other provinces were going to cry ‘foul’ — particularly as the vital consultation phase in the earliest stages of the project had been skipped. Rumblings from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have increased in volume, prompting some half-hearted efforts to be a little less opaque, and the failure of an All-Parties Conference to allay provincial concerns has now forced the government — for this read ‘the Punjab Brothers plc’ — into a U-turn regarding the 12 special economic zones it had designated in Balochistan and K-P and set up an 11-member special committee to oversee the completion of the western arm by July 2018. This is unlikely to solve anything. It is going to be headed by the prime minister himself whose investment in its efficient functioning is unlikely to be much beyond the cursory lip service. ‘Consultation’ and ‘consensus’ are to be the new watchwords. Allegedly. The CPEC at the purely conceptual level has received consistent support in these columns, which have equally consistently noted the clumsiness of the government when it comes to the equitable management of a project that is of benefit to every single person in Pakistan. Politicians — they never learn, do they.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2016.