CPEC moves

RAWALPINDI: This letter is with reference to the column by Durdana Najam, “Making CPEC a game changer” published on November 25, wherein she concluded that China may not have the design to control us but if we keep allowing China to invest heavily without generating wealth indigenously using our brain and brawn, it would eventually be a one-sided show and a worst-case scenario.

If the past is any indicator, the worst scenario appears likely because even after 69 years, the nation is being kept busy with producing heroes in cricket, show business, and the like. Around the clock, entertainment is getting top priority, including the latest license auction of direct-to-home television with long-term profit remittances and equipment import liabilities. Any effort toward self-reliance is not visible. Taking credit and pride for foreign aid, loans and expertise for development is the order of the day.

Still, there is the opportunity for the government to attach design and construction teams to each project to develop the know-how; otherwise, we will only guard the corridor, import spares and maintenance expertise, and return loans with interest.

M Akram Niazi

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2016.

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