ISLAMABAD - The Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) yesterday conveyed its concerns on delay in the finalisation of Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the Special Security Division (SSD) and strongly recommended the government to urgently convene a meeting of all provincial governments for the same on priority basis.
The committee met here under the chairmanship of Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed. It was briefed by the Ministry of Interior on security of CPEC and the various steps that the government had taken to protect Chinese nationals and Chinese projects under the CPEC.
The committee was informed that a 15,000 dedicated strong force, comprising over 9,000 regular soldiers of the Pakistan Army plus 6,000 personnel of the para-military force would make the Special Security Division (SSD) that has been entrusted with the duty of protection of Chinese personnel and projects under the CPEC.
The Ministry of Interior further informed SSD was not a standalone arrangement. It was interlocked with provincial police. All provincial governments were called by the federal government on terms of deployment of SSD. The parliamentary committee conveyed its concerns over delay on the issue and strongly recommended the government to urgently convene a meeting of all provincial governments for the finalisation of Terms of Reference (ToRs) of SSD on priority basis.
Senator Mushahid also presented the report of the parliamentary committee’s visit to Gilgit-Baltistan and said that Gilgit-Baltistan was the entry point of the corridor from the Chinese province of Xinjiang into GB. Hence, the area must be given top priority in development of various sectors in GB. In this context, the chairman said that a special meeting of the parliamentary panel about Gilgit-Baltistan will be held wherein the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister will be invited to interact with the Ministry of Planning and Development so that projects of Gilgit-Baltistan on CPEC could be pushed swiftly and substantially.
Briefing the committee on the role of Ministry of Commerce, the additional secretary said that the ministry was negotiating phase-II of the China-Pak Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) which covered goods, services and investments. Using Pakistan China FTA Phase-II, the tariff reduction modality (TRM) can be linked with guided investment from China into the manufacturing sector for CPEC. There have been various efforts of investments from China in auto, textile and electronic sectors in Pakistan. FAW Dongfeng group is manufacturing pickups and vans.
They have also set up a new plant to manufacture 1300 cc cars. Haier is assembling laptops and mobile phones. There is also a new joint venture in knitwear in Faisalabad, the first in the textile sector from China. Pakistan has to position itself to attract investment from China in labour-intensive sectors including textiles, garments, footwares and paper.
Responding to different queries and questions regarding the survey report on wind power generation capacity in Balochistan and KP, the representative of Ministry of Water and Power stated that the Alternative Energy Development Board had boosted the efforts on the already taken steps and measures for the development of wind and solo energy in the provinces. Wind and solar resource assessment is already being carried out in Balochistan and KP along with the other parts of the country through energy sector management assistance programmes of the World Bank. Under the programme, 12 wind measuring masts are being installed in different parts of the country where potential for wind power generation has been identified through satellite data analysis so that renewable energy projects can be promoted.
The secretary planning also briefed the parliamentary committee on the vsit to China of the ministers for planning and development and railways who are there to prepare a comprehensive plan for the up-gradation and dualisation of Pakistan railways as part of CPEC from Karachi to Peshawar with the project worth 8 billion dollars.
The meeting was attended by its members MNAs Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, Dr Ibadullah, Ghous Bux Mahar, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Senators Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hassani, Lt-Gen (R) Salahuddin Tirmizi, Talha Mehmood, Shibli Faraz and secretary of the committee Khalid Mahmood.