Dr Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan
DESPITE, continued western mass media biased propaganda against the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), chances of greater socio-economic integration, geopolitical realignment and geostrategic connectivity is on the increase day by day.
For the further strengthening of bilateral trade relations under the flagship of the CPEC Pakistan has now decided to construct new strategic route to decrease 350 Km distance to China border. The new proposed route, after crossing the border at Yarkand, will connect GB’s Shigar, Skardu and Astor districts to Muzaffarabad.
Most recently, on 15 January 2021, the Federal Government advised the GB Government’s Public Works Department to prepare a “project concept clearance proposal” for a 10 metre wide road capable of being used by trucks, from the Mustagh Pass on the border with the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region via the eastern GB region of Skardu, where the Siachen Glacier is located.
Right from the beginning CPEC stands for greater regional connectivity, socio-economic prosperity, food & energy security and above all poverty reduction. It has the mission and capacity to get connected with all the Central Asian Countries and beyond.
In this connection, most recently, Pakistan Federal Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) President Dr Bandar Hajjar inaugurated the construction of the 113 kilometre electricity transmission lines from Pak-Afghan border to Nowshera under the South Asia Central Asia Regional Trade and Transmission Project (CASA-1000) during a virtual event.
It was indeed a giant step towards further strengthening of energy cooperation. It hopes that world class infrastructural development under the ongoing projects of the CPEC would supplement it.
He termed that project will support economic integration among four participating countries, through establishment of regional electricity connection and creation of an integrated electricity market.
It will also positively contribute towards energy security since the energy mix of Pakistan has been strengthened through substantial amount of cross-border import & export of electricity. He labelled it transformative development in the economic and power sectors of Central Asia and South Asia which is also an inspiring model of sustainable development.
He informed the participants that Pakistan has embarked upon tapping the huge indigenous potential of renewable energy.
CASA-1000 Project is a 1,270km power transmission line that exports excess hydropower generated in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan. Transmission components under the project are being financed by IDB, World Bank, European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, UK’s Department for International Development, and USAID at a total cost of $1.17 billion.
The CASA-1000 involves building a mega power transmission line to carry some 1,300 MW of electricity from hydropower plants in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan into Afghanistan (300 MW) and on to Peshawar in Pakistan (1,000 MW).
Having similar objectives as the CPEC and the TAPI, the CASA-1000 happens to be the third most significant, groundbreaking project of the decade for our region.
It was officially declared in 2015, however, the progress of the CASA-1000 has been at a snail’s pace until only recently. It was launched in 2016, it involved four countries, namely, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan and most of the funding was arranged from the World Bank, while the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are also funding it partially.
Unfortunately, CASA-1000 has been unperformed project due to perpetual delays which create confusions whether the project is still on. Nevertheless, since TAPI was inaugurated there is new hope that the CASA 1000 could also move ahead as it is in the same region.
On the other hand, Uzbekistan is Central Asia’s largest market, comprising almost a half of the population of the region. It is also the geographic pivot and lynchpin of Central Asia, bordering all of the other Central Asian States as well as Afghanistan, and with transit connections in all directions.
It is uniquely dependent on these cross-border linkages for which Pakistan’s strategic seaport Gwadar and the CPEC role will be instrumental.
Uzbekistan is also central to the region’s economy, including as a gas supplier for Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the southern provinces of Kazakhstan.
It is also a major agricultural producer and a key player in Central Asia’s water management challenges. It has great potential, and its role is critical to the emergence of a more prosperous, connected Central Asia which may be further connected with the help of the BRI & CPEC.
It is rich in hydrocarbons and mineral resources and possessing a relatively well educated and low-cost labour force.
It has diversified economy with great potential as a manufacturing, transport and financial hub for Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
In this context, Uzbekistan presented the concept of greater regional connectivity through the construction of the Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway.
A roadmap was signed by all the participating countries in Tashkent. Geodetic, hydrogeological and topographic studies along the route of the road will be started in March 2021.
Feasibility study and mechanisms for financing the construction of the highway will also be finalized in May 2021. It has been projected as the “project of the century” for the region.
Most of the regional as well as international countries showed their keen and unconditional support for the project.
Representatives of the World Bank, ADB, EBRD, EIB, IDB, AIIB, International Development Finance Corporation have also shown interest in building a trans-regional railway.
Being a prominent regional expert on CPEC & CIS, I estimate that inauguration of the CASA-1000 and start of Mazar-i-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway will revolutionize the regional economies in the days to come.
It will further enhance bilateral or trilateral trade & commerce, FDIs, food & energy cooperation and, above all, regional connectivity for achieving and maintaining a sustainable development.
It is indeed a giant step towards regional integration of the CIS and South Asia Region which has combined population of 1.9 billion people 25 percent the world and a GDP of 3.5 trillion dollars.
South Asia is the fastest growing region in the world up 7.5 percent per year leading by China.
Moreover, South Asia’s contribution to global growth is 15pc and by 2040 it may increase to over 30 percent. So this is Asian Century in which Chinese One Belt & One Road Initiative (BRI) and its flagship mega project CPEC will play a positive and productive role.
It is high time that peace in Afghanistan should prevail and all conflicting realities ought to be resolved as soon as possible for achieving dreams of greater regional connectivity.
