ISLAMABAD - Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms informed the National Assembly on Monday that original plan of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was intact as it was made in 2013.
He said this must not be considered just a road project but the plan is to connect all big cities with the Gwadar Port.
A road has been constructed from Khunjrab to Rai Kot in this regard.
The parliamentary secretary said that the Chinese investment is not a loan and it will be foreign direct investment (FDI) under which Chinese companies will invest in Pakistan and start different projects.
Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Ishaq Dar in his written reply informed the lower house that the 6th population and housing census will be conducted in March 2016.
Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry Javeid Ikhlas who was present in the assembly, responding to a question raised by Khalida Mansoor, said the government will make sure holding of population census.
He said the constitution got suspended in 1999 by a dictator that delayed the census process otherwise it could have happened much earlier.
Minister for Interior Ch Nisar Ali Khan in his written reply told the National Assembly that Safe City Islamabad project will be completed by October 2015. Under the project, a bombproof building will be built, 1950 cameras will be installed in the city, 500 kilometer fiber optic cable will be laid and e-LTE 4G network will be used to secure the city.
Parliamentary Secretary for Interior and Narcotics Control Maryum Aurangzeb replying to a complementary question apprised the house that government has approved setting up of 73 new passport offices to facilitate the masses across the country of which 15 offices will be established in different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Maryum also told the house that the PC-I of machine readable passport/ machine readable visa project, Phase-II was approved by ECNEC on March 2 with estimated financial outlay of Rs 5,974.3 million.
The project covers the installation of machine readable passport system in 93 Pakistani missions abroad and the work is under progress as the system is installed at most of the places and only 40 missions are left behind that will be done soon.
Responding to another question, she said that until now Nadra has issued 5 million smart cards. The mentioned cards will also be used for EOBI insurance. She further told that the department is working to look into the matter of illegally issued CNICs to Afghans and those will be cancelled once identified.
During the question-hour session, Naved Qamar, while expressing his reservations over the absence of government ministers, said they attend the house and reply the questions themselves. He said sending the parliamentary sectary to submit replies was an insult of the house. He said Ahsan Iqbal was absent from the house.