ISLAMABAD: A team of Chinese Socio-Economic Development experts would visitPakistan in the last week of current month to finalize the projects andtheir sites in already agreed six different areas under China PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC) including health, education, water supply,vocational training, poverty alleviation and agriculture.
This was disclosed by spokesman of Ministry of Planning, Development andReform here on Saturday.
The spokesman in a statement, also clarified a news item published in asection of press regarding delays in implementation of CPEC, saying thatnone of the CPEC projects is facing delay; rather Pakistan and China areagreed on the future trajectory of the CPEC and timely completion of itson-going projects.
He told the successful 8th Joint Cooperation Committee meeting laidfoundation for the expansion of CPEC to new heights. For future, he saidjoint efforts are underway, focusing on socio-economic development andaccelerating cooperation in industrial development as well as agriculture.
The MoU on the formation of JWG on Socio-economic development and MoU onPoverty Reduction has been signed during the Prime Minister’s visit toChina in November this year, the spokesman added.
Recognizing the significance of Gwadar as an important node incross-regional connectivity and the central pillar of CPEC, he saidPakistan and China have agreed to speed up the progress on the Port and itsauxiliary projects. The groundbreaking of New Gwadar Airport, vocationalinstitute and hospital are planned in the 1st quarter of this year.
Gwadar Master Plan is being prepared and it is in the final stages offormulation.
Huge investment is expected in the petrochemical sector at Gwadar, he told.Pakistan and China, the spokesman said have expedited the work onindustrial cooperation under CPEC and the government has expediteddevelopment of economic zones by prioritizing Rashakai, Dhabajhi Faisalabadand ICT SEZs with a vision to make 2019, as a year of industrialdevelopment under CPEC.
Pakistan and China have expedited cooperation in the field of agriculturewith a special focus on enhancing cooperation in the areas of climatechange, desertification control, desalination, water management,afforestation and ecological restoration, wetland protection andrestoration, wildlife protection, forestry industry development, disastermanagement and risk reduction and other areas of mutual interest.
A sub group has been elevated to a full-fledged joint working group and itsmeeting is planned to be held in the first quarter of this year, he said.
The government, the spokesman said promotes development of hydro energyprojects and more projects based on indigenous sources are being added toCPEC portfolio.
Similarly, he said process has been initiated to prepare an integrated planin line with Special Economic Zones (SEZs) development aimed atfacilitating logistics and transportation for the zones.
He told that it has been decided to complete the modalities for all weatheropening of Kara Koram Highway at Khunjrab.
ML-1 designs and scope are being firmed up jointly. Government of Pakistanhas prioritized implementation of Western Route project with a focus toexpedite development of D I Khan-Zhob and Zhob-Quetta sections in order toensure uplift of less developed areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The completion of two early projects of CPEC; Peshawar-Karachi Motorway(Multan-Sukkur) and KKH Phase II (Thakot -Havelian) are planned in August2019, and March 2020, respectively but both the projects are expected to becompleted ahead of its schedule, he expressed.