ISLAMABAD - The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan in its just concluded two-year period successfully carried out the implementation of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“The PTI government showed the mettle to survive against all odds ranging from bureaucratic glitches, malicious international propaganda, economic and financial challenges, foreign pressures, and COVID-19 pandemic,” says a report published by Gwadar Pro on Tuesday.
After getting into power in August 2018, Imran Khan had expressed his resolve to CPEC’s robust traction. In August 2020, he is committed to taking CPEC to its new heights. During the two years, both CPEC and Imran Khan have been exposed to many adversaries but both stayed afloat.
During the two years, CPEC played an anchoring role in fixing economic gray areas, mitigating electricity woes, rolling out the construction of dams, creating thousands of jobs, laying down network of roads, revamping ICT and fostering agriculture structure on modern lines.
It also plugged in infrastructure gaps, making progress on health corridor, opening up new avenues for the blue economy, intensifying development of Gwadar port, initiation of Afghan transit trade and medical cooperation & assistance to control coronavirus devastation.
According to the report, the driving force behind the glories was the establishment of CPEC authority headed by Lt Gen ® Asim Saleem Bajwa, reconstitution of the 15-member business council by Board of Investment (BOI), China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement-II (CPFTA) Pakistan, tangible progress on SEZs, a framework on modern farming, Diamer Basha dam and ML-1 Railway project.
The critical analysis of CPEC role in generating inexpensive and environment-friendly electricity during two years reveals many success stories. In terms of energy that plays a dominant role in the economic development. Pakistan’s first joint venture CPHGC’s Hub coal-fired power plant producing 1320MW started its operation last year.
Before 2018, hydropower projects were not prioritized, forcing Pakistan to produce costly electricity and spend billions of rupees on imported oil.
CPEC changed the dynamics with the launch of hydel power projects in two years. Recently, Kohala, Azad Pattan hydro projects to produce1800 MW with creating 8000 jobs have been launched.
