90% of CPEC funding disbursed to 3 projects on eastern route: Report
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ISLAMABAD: Ninety-percent of the funding of $1.8 billion under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was reserved for three projects on the eastern route for the just concluded FY18.
Official documents showed other social-sector and infrastructure projects remained behind completion deadlines, reported *Express Tribune.*
During the beginning of the previous financial year 2017-18, the country had projected to receive $1.6 billion in Chinese loans and grants for over one and a half dozen projects.
However, data compiled by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs revealed disbursement had surpassed the target but projects that received 90 percent of loans amounted to only three.
Analyzing the financial inflows into Chinese-funded projects reveal no significant development has occurred on the western route that crosses through Pakistan’s remote areas and on Gwadar schemes.
Overall, $1.8 billion loans were fetched for seven infrastructure projects and four of them were linked to CPEC.
$1.6 billion of loans were disbursed for Orange Line Metro Project in Lahore, Thakot-Havelian motorway and Sukkur-Multan motorway.
And the fourth project that received funding of $16.5 million from the Chinese was the cross-border optical fibre project in FY18.
As per projections by Pakistan of $333 million for Sukkur-Multan project situated on the eastern route received $904 million or 50 percent of the overall loans fetched in FY18.
Likewise, the Thakot-Havelian segment of the eastern route got $318.2 million in loans against official projects of $197 million and the Orange Line Metro project in Lahore got $359 million.
During FY18, Pakistan received $4.5 billion in loans from China which included $1.8 billion under CPEC, $500 million in deposit from State Administration and Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and $2.2 billion in commercial loans.
Neelum-Jhelum hydroelectric power project also was a beneficiary of Chinese assistance of $96.8 million, Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite $8.64 million and Chashma Nuclear Power Plants 3 & 4 $65.5 million.
The government had anticipated receiving grants for two Gwadar schemes, the Pakistan-China Vocational Institute Gwadar and Gwadar International Airport as per budget documents.
The Chinese didn’t release the grants. Neither a project designed to provide safe and clean drinking water to Gwadar city receive any Chinese financial assistance.
