On with the handbrake

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC) is not having a good week. Austerity is the watchword de jour and it goes far beyond the sell-off of a few buffaloes. The upgrading of the national railway system is a core component of CPEC and it has been announced that CPEC investment in railway projects has been slashed to $6.2 billion and there is likely to be close scrutiny of other infrastructure and power projects which were initiated by the previous government. The underlying issue is not so much the necessity or viability of the projects all of which are worthy in varying degrees, but the cost of servicing the debt that has been taken out to do the work that makes the project reality.

On top of this is a growing unease about the lack of transparency associated with CPEC. This has now been picked up by the Senate that has expressed its displeasure at the government offering Saudi Arabia a slice of the CPEC pie without first passing it through either the upper house or lower house of parliament. Wider concerns are being expressed that Pakistan is falling into a debt trap driven by the Chinese, who are seen by some as reinventing colonialism for the 21^st century — an analysis that may not be far from a literal truth when Chinese economic activity is viewed via an arc that stretches from central African states and up into the Asian heartlands as well as across the nations of the subcontinent.

That Pakistan needs CPEC and CPEC needs Pakistan is not in any doubt, but the project was born in the opacity and lack of openness that typifies so much of our governance, where vast decisions are made without benefit of consultation or public scrutiny. In that context there has to be a cautious welcome to the application of the handbrake, but this is only going to yield maximum benefit if there is parallel transparency and thus far that is not in evidence. Neither in evidence is quite what the Chinese think of their master plan being outsourced to Saudi Arabia. Time for some CPEC housekeeping, preferably under floodlights.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2018.

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