Pak-China Economic Corridor: Chinese team to visit Gwadar by end-April

Technical experts to examine proposed infrastructure sites for the mega project.

ISLAMABAD:

A high-level Chinese technical team will visit Gwadar by the end of this month to examine the deep seaport and infrastructure sites for the proposed Pakistan-China Economic Corridor.

This is for the first time top Chinese experts will examine the proposed roads and rail tracks for the economic corridor from Gwadar port, in Balochistan, to Kashgar, in China.

“We will arrange meetings and physical visits of the Chinese technical team at the port and infrastructure sites to examine technical feasibilities of infrastructure,” said Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) Chairman Dostain Khan Jamaldini.

This visit will be followed by another by officials of Chinese financial institutions – including China’s Exim Bank, the chief financier of the mega project – to set modalities for provision of funds to execute the project, he added. He said the technical team might give some suggestions for further improvement in infrastructure.

Pakistan has also asked the Chinese company – responsible for operating the Gwadar port – to submit the masterplan of a free trade zone along with a comprehensive business and marketing plan for the port to get a formal approval, which will pave way for starting businesses at the free trade zone of the port.

Under the short-term plan, the two countries want to develop the Gwadar port, whose control has already been given to China, in a bid to attract investment in different sectors to make it a hub of economic activity, especially for regional countries.

Some Chinese businessmen and investors have already visited Pakistan to explore trade opportunities in the free trade zone as well as in the proposed economic corridor.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2014.