CPEC enters ‘new stage’ of high-quality development
In second phase of CPEC, there is high focus on social development and projects that are closer to the masses such as health and education. PHOTO: FILE
The construction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has entered a new stage of high-quality development, which will continue to play an important role in the revitalisation of Pakistan, said Cheng Xizhong, a visiting professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law.
"China and Pakistan will complete the projects under construction in time, create more jobs for Pakistanis, vigorously improve people's livelihood, strengthen cooperation in industrial parks construction, human resource training, poverty alleviation, medical and healthcare, agriculture and other fields, and continuously release the great potential of CPEC and realise common development and progress," he said in his article published by the China Economic Net (CEN).
Prof Xizhong noted that the final Take-over Certificate (TOC) issuing ceremony of Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (PKM) Project (Sukkur-Multan section), the largest transportation infrastructure project of CPEC undertaken by China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), was held in Multan, marking a formal opening to traffic and a perfect implementation of the project.
The PKM highway project, also called Peshawar-Karachi Expressway, starts from Karachi in the south, passes through Hyderabad, Sukkur, Multan, Lahore, Islamabad and other cities, and ends at Peshawar in the north, with a total length of 1,152 km.
GDP of the areas along the project accounts for more than 90% of the total amount of Pakistan, with a population of 138 million. After completion, it will become an economic artery connecting the northern and southern part of Pakistan.
The CSCEC has undertaken the PKM project (Sukkur-Multan section) in Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) contract mode, and Export-Import Bank of China has provided the financial support.
The total length of the project being 392km with a design speed of 120km/h and two-way six lanes, the contract period is 36 months and contract value about $2.889 billion.
CPEC, an important pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative and a landmark project of China-Pakistan cooperation, has made significant progress in the last five years. A large number of projects have been completed, bringing about more than $25 billion direct investment to Pakistan.
Xizhong stated that China and Pakistan had jointly overcome challenges and promoted CPEC's construction and had not withdrawn engineers working on CPEC projects nor laid off Pakistani workers since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Pakistan.
Recently, Metairie-Lahore transmission line – a key project of CPEC –was fully connected, further improving Pakistan's power supply system.
On October 25, Orange Line Metro in Lahore was officially opened and put into operation, bringing Pakistan into the era of subway, Xizhong noted, adding that Gwadar Port handled two batches of fertiliser with a total of 26,000 tons transferred to Afghanistan.
Currently, the completed projects have greatly improved Pakistan's transportation infrastructure and power supply, created more than 70,000 jobs for Pakistanis, contributed 1 to 2 percentage points to Pakistan's GDP growth every year and significantly promoted Pakistan's economic and social development and people's well-being, he said.
APP