Pakistan

Chinese investment: Zardari cautions govt on corridor issue

Asks govt to take all the stakeholders on board to secure multi-billion Chinese investments

Naveed Miraj April 27, 2015

Zardari asks govt to take all the stakeholders on board to secure multi-billion Chinese investments. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: Former president Asif Ali Zardari has cautioned the government to be careful about Chinese investment, advising it not to let it become a controversial issue in the country as it could derail the investment plans.

A source close to him cited Zardari as saying, “Chinese are very shy investors; let’s not give them reasons to be sceptical about the future of their investments.”

Zardari held a huddle of political parties recently that was also participated by the government. The meeting was also used as a platform to give a word of caution to the government regarding the rising concerns about the realignment of the multi-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project which is to be established from Gwadar to Khunjerab.

Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) politicians have already raised concerns that the major road networks have been planned through the province of Punjab while earlier those had to pass through the relatively less developed areas of Baluchistan and K-P.

The government is considering taking all the stakeholders on board through various platforms.

During the two-day official visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping a number of agreements and MoUs were signed including power generation through coal, solar energy, road infrastructure and economic and technical cooperation.

A host of economic observers feel that while on paper there is a lot of potential but Pakistan will have to tread the path carefully to make all this materialise.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (6)

Sheikh Waleed Adhab | 9 years ago | Reply @AA: Don't you have anything better to do except quibble over the context of which this or that word is used ?? These pretentious know-it-alls, especially, from the Subcontinent, should put their dubious competencies to better use.

Sheikh Waleed Adhab | 9 years ago | Reply @lkhan: Among learned circles it is a source of nonstop amusement when the likes of one Mr Zardari gives his two cents worth on how to conduct business ethically.

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Fuad | 9 years ago | Reply Baluchistan and KPK politicians are living under a rock. If they think that their Bedfords are going to be plying the Corridor route, then they are sadly mistaken. The corridor will be the exclusive domain of the Chinese, and a chain of Chinese trucks will be ferrying Chinese goods to the Gawadar Port and a stream of crude oil shipments will be carrying oil from Middle East to China. It is unlikely that locals will get any real tangible benefits from this corridor.

lkhan | 9 years ago | Reply Mr. Zardari, please tend to the 4 million children of Sindh who do not receive an education.. clean your backyard before opining on other issues....

Siraj Ahmed | 9 years ago | Reply Chinese are investing because they are getting benefited at the cost of us. Where is employment when they are calling chinese to work, here. Either they don't trust us or they don;t think we are not skilled enough? In fact chinese are going to exploit our resources and our people to benefit them. Only beneficiary will be Nawaz and his team.

AA | 9 years ago | Reply ET please stop using a word "huddle" like a child who just heard it and want to use it again and again even if it is a right choice or not. Huddle is used (1) North American English : Draw together for an informal, private conversation, (2) British English : Heap together in a disorderly manner. Lately, I have seen ET using this word for describing consultation of PM and COAS with Saudis, Ministers meetings and now for Ex-President's consultation with other party leaders. For God's sake, huddle means a crowded or confused mass of people or things, it may refer an informal gathering of people such as players on field, students around a table or simply cattle or Sheep gathering but it can not refer to a planed organized meeting.

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