ISLAMABAD: Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan’s Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives, said Wednesday that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a top priority. He was very concerned about the slow progress on CPEC-related projects.
Because so much time and money was wasted over the last four years at a CPEC meeting the minister chaired, he was not happy. Secretaries from different government departments came to the meeting.
At the briefing, the Executive Director of the CPEC, Qammar Sarwar Abbasi, gave a briefing on how far the projects have come so far. This is a huge game-changer for the region.
The minister said that the progress of the CPEC should be looked at twice a month and that all Joint Working Groups (JWG) of the CPEC should work on their specific projects and start working on them right away.
“How shameful that the CPEC projects are taking so long,” said the minister, who told the official in charge to hold a meeting every two weeks to see how things are going. There has been no progress on the industrial zones in Port Qasim, Islamabad, and Mirpur, which is a shame. Because if you don’t value your investors, why would they come to you for investment?
A lot of big foreign investors wanted to be a part of SEZs in 2017, and they were all lined up. Chinese investors, on the other hand, had to leave because of long delays in projects, said the minister.
The minister said that any more delays in projects would not be acceptable, so he told the officials to make sure the work was done quickly. The Minister said, “How will you attract our investors if we don’t finish important projects on time?” The official was told to hold a separate meeting about SEZs so that it could be more efficient.
As part of the CPEC plan, the SEZs were supposed to be ready by 2020, but in the last four years, there has been no progress on the SEZs, said the minister. The Interior Division should make sure that the Chinese nationals working in Pakistan are well protected.
During the meeting, he told the officials to finish the Zhob-Quetta Road that was started as part of the CPEC project. He said infrastructure development in less developed areas would help improve the quality of life of the people there and boost the economy.
The minister said that all the ministries and departments should pay attention to SEZs right away. In this case, all possible foreign investors should be talked to as well to get their thoughts and ideas on how to make SEZs better.
The minister also told the officials to fix the problems, especially in Early Harvest Projects, which are projects like infrastructure and energy projects.
A lot of social and economic opportunities have opened up because of the CPEC, but there is a lot of work to be done to make sure that people have the skills they need to take advantage of them.
The government plans to train more than 100,000 young people in a wide range of fields, including artificial intelligence and Oracle. He also told the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to work very closely with businesses to make sure that Pakistani graduates are getting an education that is in line with what businesses need.
