Corridor paves way for brighter future
Energy and social projects bringing positive impact to people of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — With the smooth implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the people of Pakistan are gaining tangible benefits.
Residents of the southwestern port city of Gwadar will enjoy better emergency medical treatment thanks to the opening of a hospital donated by China earlier this month.
The hospital, which opened on Sunday, was donated by the Red Cross Society of China and is the first of its kind along the CPEC, a route connecting Gwadar and the city of Kashgar in western China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
Adjacent to the newly built hospital is Faqeer Primary School, where over 300 pupils sit in new classrooms with freshly painted desks. Opened in September, the school was the first China-donated project aimed at improving the livelihood of people along the CPEC.
Sher Mohammad gave a piece of his land to the local government for the school’s construction. The 60-yearold said that although land prices in Gwadar are surging after China helped develop the port, he never regretted his donation.
“I’m happy about my decision because I had the chance to give this piece of land to local kids for their future,” he said.
Meanwhile, China State Construction Engineering Corp, which has a branch in the central Pakistan city of Multan, is also engaged in projects that direct have an impact on the lives of the locals.
The company is now building the Sukker-Multan section of the Peshawar-Karachi Expressway, a 392-kilometer road with a total investment of $2.89 billion that involves some 10,000 Pakistani as well as 1,500 Chinese engineers and laborers working around the clock.
Once completed, the project will shorten the eighthour traveling time between Sukker and Multan by half.
Energy is a major pillar of CPEC projects. According to Sun Weidong, Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, 11 of the 19 CPEC early harvest projects fall into the energy category to address Pakistan’s chronic power shortages. They include coal-fired plants, hydropower facilities, wind and solar power farms.
For example, the first phase of a solar power plant constructed in Bahawalpur, Punjab province by China’s energy conglomerate Zonergy last year will meet 30 percent of the region’s power demands.
Yet the 300-megawatt plant with an annual capacity of 495 million kilowatthour of electricity is relatively small compared to the three coal-fired plants planned in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces. Gradually coming into service, the plants, each with a capacity of 1,320 megawatts, will provide electricity for some 4 million households.
For countries along the CPEC, the corridor is not only about economic gains, but also about cross-cultural and people-to-people contact, which could involve Iran, Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries.
Mushahid Hussain, a senator who heads the CPEC Pakistani Parliamentary Committee and will attend the upcoming Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, said he aims to spread the message of the corridor’s achievements.
“We want to convey the success story to other countries,” Mushahid said, “how we have done it, how we are doing it together with our Chinese friends, and how it is important not just for China and Pakistan, but for the region as well.”