ADDRESSING a news conference on the Monthly Development Update on Friday, Minister for Planning Prof. Ahsan Iqbal said that the incumbent government would not “drop the catch of CPEC”, adding that it was the PTI-led regime that had scandalized the CPEC in 2018, due to which Pakistan could not attract investment. Multi-billion dollar investment was diverted to other countries such as Cambodia, Laos and other places due to brakes put by the PTI from 2018 to 2022.
There is national consensus that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has contributed immensely to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development in different parts of the country, especially its far-flung and inaccessible regions. It is a matter of record that successive governments could not resolve the chronic problem of load-shedding and instead some Federal Ministers of the past openly declared that the issue will remain there for over a decade because of its complicated nature. However, the challenge was effectively addressed when establishment of power plants with Chinese assistance was included in the early harvest programme of the CPEC. Accelerated and timely completion of these plants not only made load-shedding a thing of the past but also rendered Pakistan surplus in power generation. No doubt, the energy sector is facing numerous problems but these have much to do with the wrong and ill-advised policies that were centered on hiking tariffs every now and then rather than to initiate fundamental reforms to address issues like extraordinary line losses, theft, corruption and more importantly the worn out distribution and transmission networks. Similarly, infrastructure projects initiated under the CPEC have revolutionized social and economic activities in relevant regions improving mobility and creating employment opportunities at the doorsteps of people. It is, however, regrettable that the momentum was lost due to lack of vision on the part of the previous government and as a result the country suffered hugely due to unusual delay in the implementation of otherwise economically vital projects like Gwadar and ML-I. It is, therefore, satisfying to hear from Ahsan Iqbal that the incumbent government will not drop the catch of CPEC and some progress is visible in the form of understanding to initiate work on the second phase of the CPEC. It is important to note that the present government has negotiated with China to grant 10,000 scholarships for PhD in Artificial Intelligence (AI), engineering and other fields. However, there are reasons to believe that the original momentum has yet not been revived and much more will have to be done to realize this objective.
