ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan believes thatthe development of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has powered thegeneration of employment opportunities. Talking to a Chinese newspaper,Khan said that, direct involvement in the construction and operations ofvarious projects under the CPEC framework has opened a lot of opportunitiesfor a large portion of the population.
According to the numbers chalked by Planning Commissionlink, 38,000 jobswere created during the Early Harvest Project of CPEC, of which Pakistaniemployees occupied 75 percent. Approximately 8,000 or less than 25 percentof jobs were consumed by Chinese workers. Energy projects have turned outto be major employment contributors where over 16,000 Pakistanis were hiredas engineers or laborers. Future projections indicate that the corridorwill create 500,000 jobs in the next five to seven years.
Applied Economics Research Center has also assessed that the super ventureis relied upon creating more than 700,000 jobs between 2015 and 2030 in thecountry. Furthermore, the evaluation of the Planning Commissiondemonstrates that the figure may go significantly higher to around 800,000jobs in next 15 years.
According to Khan, lack of employment opportunities is holding back thegrowth of Pakistan’s economy and this issue is needed to be addressed witha wider approach. Khan also believes that CPEC has also helped improve thecountry’s business environment by developing a platform and an opportunityto attract more foreign investors.
The PTI chief also said that development of CPEC has driven the growth ofPakistan’s national development and brought about benefits for thecitizens. In the future, the corridor will gain wider support from allpopulation of Pakistan.