Major CPEC power project delayed

Completion of the 870-megawatt Suki Kinari hydroelectric power project may be delayed by at least one year

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) may very well be a landmark project, but it will face the recurring issues that have plagued the country in all its years of stalled development, poor infrastructure and lost investment. In the latest development, completion of the 870-megawatt Suki Kinari hydroelectric power project, part of CPEC and valued at $1.8 billion, may be delayed by at least one year as the K-P government has so far failed to resolve the land acquisition issue. This is not an ordinary project, evident from its capacity and worth, but it faces the same issue that so many others have. One would be surprised, but land disputes have cost the country several projects already and unsuspecting investors have fallen in the trap every time.

There is no doubt that the stake this time is higher and this project is unlikely to face the kind of hurdles most face in the country’s private sector. If for nothing, keeping CPEC’s reputation intact will, almost magically, remove all bottlenecks that exist out of the country’s corrupt governance. But the issue itself highlights the flaws within the core of Pakistan’s business climate. The Pakistan Railways, too, has faced the same kind of issue. It follows years of how governments have functioned and how work is taken forward — without long-term planning and with a careless, nonchalant attitude. The government has promised to end power cuts by the end of its tenure, making it one of the most important conditions if it wishes to get re-elected, and projects such as this will take it ever so close to its ultimate goal. The K-P government, which is clearly at loggerheads with the centre, could potentially drag the issue longer. The dispute personifies how Pakistan has suffered — due to political differences and years of corruption and inefficiency. But since CPEC is the country’s largest investment project and needs stakeholders to be on the same page, one hopes that differences are put aside.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2016.

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