‘China-Pak Economic Corridor is on track’
The $46b mega infrastructure project aims to link Kashgar in Xinjiang province to Gwadar deep sea port.
BEIJING: The $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a mega infrastructure project that is aimed to link Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang province to Gwadar deep sea port in Pakistan, has made progress and benefited local people, a Chinese diplomat said.
The completed part of the CPEC project, under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is bringing tangible benefits to local people, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong said in an interview with Xinhua news agency.
Sun said the two countries have launched a host of early harvest projects focusing on energy and transport infrastructure to meet Pakistan’s immediate needs.
In the energy sector, 16 projects have been sorted out to be implemented first, which can generate 10.4 million kw of electricity in total, Sun said, adding that half of the projects have been under construction, and will help Pakistan ease its power shortages.
A solar power plant in Punjab province’s Bahawalpur city, built by the Chinese company ZTE Energy, has recently installed a 300-megawatt generator unit, which can produce 480 million kWh annually, enough to satisfy the daily power consumption of at least 200,000 Pakistani families, Sun said.
Regarding transportation, the ambassador said, phase II of the Karakoram highway, the Multan-Suk- kur section of the LahoreKarachi highway, and the Pakistan portion of a crossborder optical cable project are already underway.
As the largest transportation project under the CPEC, the 392 km- long Multan-Sukkur stretch is expected to create nearly 10,000 jobs at the peak of its construction, the ambassador added.
According to incomplete statistics, the CPEC projects under construction have employed more than 6,000 Pakistani workers by the end of March, besides the employment indirectly created and driven by the proj- ects, Sun said.
Furthermore, Chinese companies participating in CPEC helped residents in remote areas of Pakistan gain access to clean water, electricity and better transportation.
China’s Three Gorges Corporation and Tebian Electric Apparatus have provided generators, solar lights and water purification units to residents in remote regions while China Road and Bridge Corporation has repeatedly helped locals build makeshift bridges and water ducts and taken part in rescue and relief operations.