NEW DELHI: The $60-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is running behind schedule with only three out of the total 15 projects completed, according to a media report on Sunday.
Till date, Pakistan has completed only three CPEC projects in Gwadar worth $300 million, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.
A dozen projects worth up to $2 billion remain unfinished including water supply and electricity generation, according to the CPEC Authority.
The ambitious CPEC is a 3,000-km long route of infrastructure projects connecting China’s northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Gwadar Port in the western Pakistan province of Balochistan.
India has protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
As per a progress review, the CPEC Authority said all works relating to the socio-economic benefits in Gwadar were running behind schedule.
The completed projects are the $4 million Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan, the physical infrastructure of Gwadar Port, construction of Free Zone Phase-1 costing $ 300 million and the Pak-China Technical and Vocational Institute built from a $10-million Chinese grant.
Presently, Gwadar port area does not have its own power generation and water supply sources. The port area imports its electricity from neighbouring Iran.
China funding
According to the original plan, China was supposed to commit 90% financing for CPEC, but this has not panned out.
CPEC projects include laying of pipelines from Swad Dam and Shadi Kure Dam to increase water supply to the port. However, these works are far from completion. The projects should have been ready by 2017. In its documents, the project is shown as funded by the federal government.
The $179 million Eastbay Expressway – connecting the port with the Free Zone – was supposed to be completed over an year ago but remains “99% complete”. China has provided interest-free loan for the scheme. The CPEC Authority expects that the project will be completed by June.
The New Gwadar International Airport, which should have been completed a few years ago, is “36% complete”, according to the CPEC Authority. China is providing a $230 million grant for the project. Hardly 20% work has been finished on the $100 million Pak-China Friendship Hospital, Gwadar.
Pakistan has planned a 300MW Gwadar power plant to provide home-based electricity. But the report showed that hardly 3% work was done on the scheme.
The power project was marred with problems due to the Imran Khan-led government’s failure to clear Rs300 billion dues of Chinese power plants that were already in operation. It led to the closure of a 1,980MW Chinese plant.
Lost interest
Last month, planning minister Ahsan Iqbal passed orders to begin the process of abolition of the CPEC Authority, saying it was a “redundant organisation” that wasted resources and thwarted speedy implementation of the regional connectivity programme.
On May 8, he said that the “enemies of the country wanted to destabilise the country as they were creating problems in the way of successful completion of game-changer CPEC projects”. Iqbal said that the previous PTI regime paid no attention to CPEC, but that the new PML-N government under Shehbaz Sharif was committed to completing the projects quickly.
CPEC remained on the back-burner during the Imran Khan government but has lately started working after Khalid Mansoor was brought on board as special assistant to the PM on CPEC affairs.
(With inputs from agencies)
Till date, Pakistan has completed only three CPEC projects in Gwadar worth $300 million, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.
A dozen projects worth up to $2 billion remain unfinished including water supply and electricity generation, according to the CPEC Authority.
The ambitious CPEC is a 3,000-km long route of infrastructure projects connecting China’s northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Gwadar Port in the western Pakistan province of Balochistan.
India has protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
As per a progress review, the CPEC Authority said all works relating to the socio-economic benefits in Gwadar were running behind schedule.
The completed projects are the $4 million Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan, the physical infrastructure of Gwadar Port, construction of Free Zone Phase-1 costing $ 300 million and the Pak-China Technical and Vocational Institute built from a $10-million Chinese grant.
Presently, Gwadar port area does not have its own power generation and water supply sources. The port area imports its electricity from neighbouring Iran.
China funding
According to the original plan, China was supposed to commit 90% financing for CPEC, but this has not panned out.
CPEC projects include laying of pipelines from Swad Dam and Shadi Kure Dam to increase water supply to the port. However, these works are far from completion. The projects should have been ready by 2017. In its documents, the project is shown as funded by the federal government.
The $179 million Eastbay Expressway – connecting the port with the Free Zone – was supposed to be completed over an year ago but remains “99% complete”. China has provided interest-free loan for the scheme. The CPEC Authority expects that the project will be completed by June.
The New Gwadar International Airport, which should have been completed a few years ago, is “36% complete”, according to the CPEC Authority. China is providing a $230 million grant for the project. Hardly 20% work has been finished on the $100 million Pak-China Friendship Hospital, Gwadar.
Pakistan has planned a 300MW Gwadar power plant to provide home-based electricity. But the report showed that hardly 3% work was done on the scheme.
The power project was marred with problems due to the Imran Khan-led government’s failure to clear Rs300 billion dues of Chinese power plants that were already in operation. It led to the closure of a 1,980MW Chinese plant.
Lost interest
Last month, planning minister Ahsan Iqbal passed orders to begin the process of abolition of the CPEC Authority, saying it was a “redundant organisation” that wasted resources and thwarted speedy implementation of the regional connectivity programme.
On May 8, he said that the “enemies of the country wanted to destabilise the country as they were creating problems in the way of successful completion of game-changer CPEC projects”. Iqbal said that the previous PTI regime paid no attention to CPEC, but that the new PML-N government under Shehbaz Sharif was committed to completing the projects quickly.
CPEC remained on the back-burner during the Imran Khan government but has lately started working after Khalid Mansoor was brought on board as special assistant to the PM on CPEC affairs.
(With inputs from agencies)