The Central Develo­pment Working Party (CDWP) on Wednesday cleared thesecond phase of a Rs38bn project for laying cross-border optic fibre cablewith China.

According to the details, the CDWP has referred the project to theExecutive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approvalin a meeting presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission MohammadJehanzeb Khan.

According to a report by Dawn, the project, which is along theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Khunjerab-Gwadar-Karachi route,will provide an alternate path for international connectivity through thecountry’s northern border with China and ensure continuous uninterruptedconnectivity between Northern and Southern borders of the country byestablishing multiple rings for secure and uninterrupted communicationnetwork etc.

Under the financial rules in vogue, the CDWP is empowered to itself approveprojects costing no more than Rs10bn while projects of higher estimatedcosts are approved by Ecnec once the CDWP clears them on technical grounds.