A prickly path: Businessmen unwilling to accept new trade route

KPCCI says revised map for Gwadar-Kashgar corridor neglects underdeveloped areas.

PESHAWAR:

Unwilling to tolerate changes made to the Gwadar-Kashgar trade corridor route, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) said the new r0ute for the project would cause further deterioration in underdeveloped areas instead of development.

Speaking to the media at the Peshawar Press Club during guest hour, KPCCI President Fawad Ishaq said the Chinese proposed the 2,395km-long original route to enable progress in lesser-developed areas.



“The plan was finalised around three years ago, but now the federal government, particularly Nawaz Sharif, is revisiting the proposed route which will not be tolerated at any cost,” Ishaq said. He stressed smaller provinces would fall into a further state of disarray.

Turning his attention to K-P, he pointed out the province was already at the forefront of fighting terrorism and the government should immediately announce an industrial zone and housing society along Motorway-1 (M-1). He also demanded that industries be exempt from income tax for five years. Ishaq added a relief package had been announced by the previous Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led federal government, but the bureaucracy was creating hurdles.

Replying to a question, the chamber’s president said the provincial government should realise the importance of the trade corridor with China and should take action against the proposed route change. He accused the K-P regime of being least interested in a corridor which could bring an “industrial revolution” to the province.

He said the original route was designed to start from Kashgar and go onto Abbottabad and Mansehra. From there on, it would travel along Mianwali, DI Khan, Muzaffargarh, Zhob, Quetta and Panjgur before culminating in Gwadar. However, under the newly-mapped out path, it would start in Kashgar but miss many parts of K-P before heading for the Lahore Motorway and onto Multan, Hassanabdal and parts of Sindh before reaching its final destination in Gwadar.



Talking about the energy crisis and its impact on the industry in K-P, Ishaq said the total consumption of electricity was just 180 megawatts and could be provided without the government having to conduct load-shedding. He claimed around 700 industries were forced to shut down and not a single factory was established in the province after 2008.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2015.