KARACHI-A meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was held at the Sindh Secretariat to review the projects under the CPEC in Sindh. Chairman Parliamentary Committee for CPEC MNA Sher Ali Arbab, Chief Secretary Sindh Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, Committee Members MNA Noor Alam Khan, MNA Sadaqat Ali Khan Abbasi, MNA Murtaza Javed Abbasi, MNA Zahid Akram Durrani, MNA Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, Federal Secretary Planning, Chairman Sindh Planning Board Wasim Ahmed, Commissioner Karachi Naveed Ahmed Sheikh and other relevant secretaries have attended the meeting.
The meeting was briefed on Thar coal, special economic zones, KT Bandar project, Karachi circular railways, BRTs and other projects. Briefing the committee, Chief Secretary Sindh Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah said that Thar coal had the capacity to meet the power needs of the entire country. He said that there was famous slogan that Thar would change Pakistan because it was generating cheaper electricity as compared to all other power generation projects in the country. “Additional 660 MW electricity from Thar will also be added to the national grid this year,” he said. The Chief Secretary Sindh invited CPEC Parliamentary Committee to visit Thar coal to witness the progress.
He said that the members of the committee should visit Thar and see the development work done by the Sindh government there, as roads had been constructed and provincial government had built an airport in Islamkot to facilitate the investors. He further added that Dhabeji special economic zone was another big project on 1,500 acres of land, which would be used for industries. Dhabeji economic zone is an important project of CPEC which will boost the manufacturing and will increase exports of the country. He said that mass transit network is being laid in Karachi city from Malir expressway, BRT and KCR which will resolve the transport problems in the city.
Chairman CPEC Parliamentary Committee Sher Ali Arbab said that timely completion of the CPEC projects were in the national interest. He said that Thar coal, Dhabeji economic zone and wind corridors of Sindh were the big projects. He said that the real success of CPEC was special economic zones and the Gwadar. The parliamentary committee appreciated the efforts of the Sindh government on the CPEC projects and the committee members had decided that they would visit Thar soon.