ISLAMABAD

Senator Saleem Mandviwala, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Finance, has said that the government has failed to clarify its position on the different routes of CPEC as no budgetary allocation has been made, for the western route, in the PSDP 2015.
Before leaving to China on a three day visit, with parliamentary delegation, he demanded that government must take all the political parties and provinces on same page to complete this project of national interest successfully. The parliamentary delegation will be visiting from August 10 to 13th. During the visit participants will be meeting with the high ups of Chinese government and companies to discuss various aspects of CPEC project.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Federal Minister Planning, Development & Reforms Ahsan Iqbal has time and again reiterated that building of the western alignment of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the first and foremost priority of the government. But the opposition parties are contesting his claim by asserting that not a single penny has been allocated for the western route, under CPEC, in the PSDP.
Saleem Mandviwala was of the view that the government is still following ambiguous policy regarding Western and Eastern routes of CPEC and has not made any budgetary allocations for the western route in the PSDP 2015-16. This project has reached its implementing stage now, and the PML-N government must not change the original policy on CPEC, he demanded.
He asked the government to take all political parties and provinces on board and fulfil the commitment of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif given in All Parties Conference, according to which the PM has assured all parties that work on western route of CPEC will completed on priority basis.
In a statement issued from his office, Senator Mandviwala claimed that the project was started by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government to help China and Pakistan economies by strengthening the economic ties between the two countries. The project was aimed at integrating Pakistan’s economy into Chinese economy and vice versa.
He said that PPP government initiated the CPEC when the international donors and the Western world were not willing to fund these projects. Chinese government has established an infrastructure bank which will fund the infrastructure project of CPEC.