ISLAMABAD

The Senate special committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) expressed dissatisfaction over government’s vague response about the allocations of funds for the Western Route of the corridor and Senators from the small provinces threaten to quit the Committee in protest.
In the meeting, of Senate Special Committee, which was chaired by PPP senator Taj Haider, Senators from the smaller provinces again raised the issue of the allocation of funds for Western routes and decided the committee will meet the prime minister on the issue as it seems the government is not fulfilling its commitment, which was made in the APC.
Senators from the Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party (PMAP) said that the government has set their mind that they are not going to develop the Western route and, if so, then there is no need to be a member of the special committee and waste our time.
“I am going to quit, the special committee, as the government is not ready to listen to our demands and still stuck to its initial decision of making the eastern route first,” Ilyas Bilour Senator from ANP said. “We are being pushed to the wall as we are not being considered part of Pakistan,” he added. Bilour asked the government officials, if they are not ready to work on the western route, go and tell your Prime Minister that they are not ready to listen to him.
Senator Daud Khan Achakzai from PMAP also threatens to quit the committee if the government was not ready to implement the commitment made by the PM in the APC. However the other co- members of the committee asked them not to take such an extreme step so early.
A major portion of funds, $38 billion out of $46 billion, of CPEC project will be spent on energy projects, majority of them located in Punjab along the eastern route, government informed the Senate special committee on CPEC. The members of the committee pointed out that despite the commitment by the Prime Minister at the APC for construction of the Western route first, there is no visible allocation in this regard.
Jamat-e-Islami Amir Senator Siraj-ul-Haq said that all the parties appreciated and supported the Prime Minister decision in APC and distributed sweet as it was a step taken to remove the grievances of the small federating units. Strong and prosperous Federation is in the interest of every one, he added.
“But today it’s really strange that the special committee is still discussing the allocation for Western Route despite the clear announcement and directive of the PM,” he said.
“Don’t make the mistake of making CPEC controversial, the government should develop consensus as they cannot impose its will on the provinces,” Siraj warned. The government has once tried to construct Kalabagh dam by using force and the controversy is still surrounding the country,” Siraj warned. He said that the government is required to support the small provinces and should start work on the western route.
Senator Farhatullah Babar blaming the government for backtracking from the decisions made in the All Parties Conference (APC) on CPEC said that the government has no intentions for the implementation of the decision of the APC. He said that the government officials are not coming with the truth. In the APC, he said the government had agreed to develop the Western one first to accommodate the backward areas of Balochistan and KPK.
He said that for Western routes funds have been allocated from the PSDP, and there is no allocation under the CPEC, as these roads are only for local connectivity. The roads of Western route can never become part of the CPEC as they cannot take the huge load of the Chinese cargos, Senator Babar maintained.
He said that the government has made more allocations to the Eastern route rather to the Western. In the budget speech, the finance minister had announced the allocation of Rs 359 billion for the CPEC projects, of which Rs 185 billion will go to the Highways and Motorways located on Eastern route but none of them located on the western route, Babar claimed.
Senator Muhammad Usman Kakar said that so far Western Route has not been made part of the CPEC and claimed that the government cannot prove even Rs10 allocation, under the corridor project, for the Western Route as the funds were allocated for the eastern and common routes. Western route is a matter of life and death for the people of Balochistan and KP, he added. He said that don’t blame the ministry or Ahsan Iqbal as they are just obeying the orders, the real authority rest with the Prime Minister. There is no railway route under consideration for the western route under the CPEC, Kakar maintained. He said it is planned that 16000MW electricity will be generated from the power plants to be installed, under CPEC, on Eastern route but no power plant is being installed on western route.
He also criticised the government for not following the commitment made by the Prime Minister to the All Parties Conference. The Minister and officials are making thing confusing by showing those roads part of Western Route which were started in Musharraf or Zardari government. Two roads are being funded by Asian Development Bank while two are part of combine three routes. The government should tell the committee how much funds are allocated for Dera Ismail Khan to Khuzdar route? And what the government consider the western route?
Senator Taj Haider said that China is looking for its own benefit, which is their right, but we have to protect our own interest.
Senator Hidayatullah said that “I am totally unsatisfied from the government response on the Western Route,” and warned that “We will not allow the government to impose their personal will in connection with CPEC”.
Mir Kabir Ahmed Muhammad Shahi a Senator from Balochistan pointed out that the government needs to enact demographic legislation to protect the native people of the province from anticipated influx of the new arrival there. “I am not talking something new it is also mentioned in the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan that legislation will be done before any developmental project in Gwadar to protect the local people from demographic changes”, he maintained.
“We are not against the Gwadar deep port sea, CPEC or any other developmental project but if it meant to marginalise the native people and make them like Red Indians then we will not allow it to happen,” he warned.
The government must inform the committee about the steps to be taken under the CPEC for the socioeconomic uplift of the people of Gwadar and adjoining areas. The government need raise the living standard of the people of Gwadar as it is because of Gwadar port that China has entered in a deal with Pakistan. He said that first beneficiary of the Gwadar development should be the people of Gwadar, second the people of Makhran, third Balochistan and fourth the rest of Pakistan.
Mir also warned the government that the current roads, in Sorab, Panjgor, Turbat, Baisma and Gwadar, which the government intended to make part of the CPEC is not able to take more than 12 to 15 tone.