Altered trade route strikes provincialism chord

The corridor will be built on new lines after China refused to finance the other route, says planning secretary.

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan decides to change the Pak-China Economic Corridor route by cutting off restive areas en route to Gwadar port, the Senate joint opposition has demanded the government seek approval of the new alignment from the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

The reason behind changing the route is aimed at ensuring security for Chinese convoys and so most of the route will go through Punjab, which has irked lawmakers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The issue of re-alignment of the Gwadar connectivity road came in the limelight during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance held on Wednesday to review the budgetary recommendations of the upper house of Parliament.

The committee adopted the recommendation of the joint opposition in the Senate, asking the government to seek the approval of the new route – what the government calls the eastern route of the Pak-China Economic Corridor – from the Council of Common Interests (CCI), the highest constitutional body that deals with inter-provincial issues. The old route was along the western lines of the country but passes through some restive areas.

Senators hailing from K-P and Balochistan said the new alignment has excluded many areas of their provinces as the new route largely passes through Punjab.

Pakistan and China have agreed to construct the economic corridor that will give access to western parts of China to Gwadar port for international trade and secure energy supplies for the future. The new route is much safer than the old one and will ensure security of traffic.

Both the countries have signed initial agreements for a $34-billion investment in Pakistan.

Planning and Development Secretary Hasan Nawaz Tarar opposed the proposal that seeks the CCI nod and maintained that the corridor was being built under a bilateral arrangement; hence there is no need for seeking CCI’s approval.

Meanwhile, Senator Sardar Fateh Muhammad said the government changed the original Gwadar connectivity route and excluded the Pashtun and Baloch belts, about which Balochistan has reservations.

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal urged the nation to avoid provoking sentiments of provincialism, warning it could hurt the national development agenda. He said the government has not abandoned the original route, called the western route. It has only decided to construct the eastern route first with Chinese assistance.

Senator Ilyas Bilour said the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman told him that the government claimed of changing the route on China’s desire. However, when Maulana Fazl met the Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan, the latter ruled out Beijing’s pressure to change the route.

The planning secretary said the corridor will be built on new lines after China refused to finance the other route.

Ahsan Iqbal informed the standing committee that both the countries have agreed to build the corridor along the eastern alignment. He said the eastern route will largely be completed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis – a facility that was not available to construct the western route. He said had the government adopted the old western route, the entire cost of construction would have fallen on the shoulders of Pakistan.

He said the eastern route will be completed via a combination of BOT, concessionary loans from China and limited government financing. He said the government has not abandoned the original route, which passes through western parts of the country.

Senator Talha Mehmood argued that the government was not fully exploiting the opportunity, suggesting it should seek maximum benefits in return of giving access to China.

Ahsan Iqbal replied that since China was Pakistan’s friend, the government cannot exploit the situation. He said Pakistan will also be benefiting from the corridor and the arrangement is a win-win situation for both countries.

He said the $34-billion investment in the next five years will also be a benchmark for other countries for future cooperation. The planning minister said Pakistan tried to sell the western route to China but Beijing was interested in the eastern alignment.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2014.