A parliamentary panel accused the federal government for ignoring the western route of China Pakistan economic Corridor (CPEC) by not earmarking any amount for the project, and declaring old road projects funded by other international financial institutions as its part.
The western route must be constructed on the pattern of eastern route, demanded by the committee chairman Dawood Khan Achakzai, adding that due to non-representation from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA in Pakistan China Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), western route and FATA projects have not been included in CPEC.
The Senate Standing Committee on Communications met under the chairmanship of Senator Dawood Khan Achakzai to review progress on road projects currently underway in Balochistan. He further said that western route is limited to documents only.
Senator Usman Kakar said that NHA gave the same briefing in very meeting but work on ground has not yet been started.
Chairman National Highway Authority Shahid Ashraf Tarar said that China EXIM bank is funding CPEC projects @1.6 mark up. He further said that Liyari Expressway would be opened by Nov-Dec of the current year.
Tarar said that federal cabinet has approved the Framework Agreement for construction of D.I.Khan – Zhob (N-50) and Khuzdar – Basima (N-30) highway projects and work on them would soon commence as the formal agreement between Pakistan and China comes into effect.
The Chairman informed the meeting that both the projects were included in CPEC during the meeting of JCC held in Beijing in December 2016 which also recommended its financing. He said 210 km D.I.Khan – Zhob and Khuzdar-Basima (110 km) would cost around Rs. 81 billion and Rs. 20 billion respectively. The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved PC-1 for the projects in April 2017 and currently the process of land acquisition was in progress.
He also informed the meeting that the CPEC’s Joint Working Group on Transport, in its meeting in September in Karachi, also approved two more projects for Balochistan including the dualization of Zhob-Kuchlac (Western Corridor) and construction of Naukundi-Mashkel-Panjgur road for inclusion in CPEC and recommended their financing. Zhob-Kuchlak (305 km) would cost around Rs 20 billion.
Its detailed design is completed while the land acquisition is underway. Similarly, Naukundi-Panjgur (290km) road would cost around Rs. 20 billion. Pre-feasibility study of the project is completed while detailed design is in progress. It will connect national highway N-40 with CPEC route N-85 and shorten the route by 772 km thus saving almost 10 hours travel time.
The Chairman said development of Balochistan was NHA’s top priority and out of six CPEC projects in Balochistan, four projects namely Zhob-Quetta (331 km), Quetta-Sorab (211 km), Sorab-Hoshab (449 km) and Hoshab-Gwadar (149 km) were already completed successfully. Work on Zhob-Mughalkot (81 km) was in full progress and hopefully this would be completed by December 2018, he said.
Tarar said construction and extension of highways in Balochistan province stands among the priorities of the NHA and all out efforts are being made for earlier completion of the highway schemes in Balochistan.
He further said special attention was also paid to revive those projects that were initiated long ago but were stalled midway because of fund shortage, security issued and other reasons. These projects were not only revived but also successfully complete. These included the all important Lowari Tunnel, Lyari Expressway, Turbat-Hoshab and Hoshab-Sorab road projects.
Inspector General National Highway and Motorway Police (NH&MP) Kaleem Imam said that due to 38 percent budget shortfall, the department is confronted with various problems including personnel shortage. It was further informed that 35th Division of Pak Army comprising on 9292 personnel has been set up to protect CPEC.
Pehly to FATA Ko KPK Ka Part Banaya Jaye : Agar KPK Nahi Manti to Sindh Ka Part Banyah Jaye :p
Fools won’t talk about closing Afghan border
Punjab and Sindh superiority in Pakistan snatched the rights of KP and Baloch citizens on similar platforms.
KP needs as much as progress as Nawaz shareef doing for Punjab.
And achakzai’s are even not loyal to KP and Pakistan too and other KP leadership as they are performing the dupkicate role of MQM to corrupt province for their benefits..
You think ppl living in punjab are doing any better?Ypu are wrong..There is nothing good in Pakistan for the masses..
No one is ‘snatching’ the rights of anyone in Pakistan.
Come visit Lahore sometime, you’ll see what I mean.
Half of Lahore is broken courtesy of Metro Train (And that’s coming from a strong PMNL Supporter!).
Govt run schools and hospitals and in deplorable condition (No surprise there, they are like that since the medieval times). Young doctors are often found beside a roadblock; chanting old, worn out anti-Govt slogans (Like the popular “Go Nawaz Go” for example), instead of beside a bed of a patient or shall I say “patients” (As in plural) because our hospitals usually allocate a single bed for two patients, sometimes even THREE!
Crime is at an all time high (Courtesy of our Police who is supposed to “Protect and Serve” but don’t think we are ‘worthy’ enough for their TLC aka Tender, Love & Care!).
The so called “Dolphin Force” does nothing but look COOL and MACHO with their big adventure bikes and fancy submachine guns and are mostly found smoking cigarettes in the back streets, away from the prying eyes, often under a nice, cozy tree shade. As a matter of fact, I once saw a squad relaxing beside the boating pond in Gulshan Park! Now how about that! I’ve no idea what they’re supposed to do and why they are even here in the first place! They are just there, for some very odd reasons, doing God knows what!
Don’t even think for a second that we are living in a dream, cause we ARE NOT!
Good Day!
well gentel man who stopping punjab to make kalabagh – punjab say sub ko takleef bare ha tum corrupt provinces kam nae kerte or bakwas kerte ho punjab ke bare mai – apne pancch derya ayub khan jaise gatiiya insan ne india ko gift ker deay – koe aik soba hai jo samne aye or apne derya india ko gift hone de – or kalabagh nae binne de – tum sub pathan sindhi khathe punjab ki ho or bakwas bhe punjab ke bare mai kerte ho
Acakzai is more patriotic than your army generals who graduate from US/US war colleges, get promotion faster than their peers and later meet foreign secretaries/ministers of these countries for backdoor agendas to fulfill.
Many fools who favor every bad of generals as their uncle/dad/bro was in army or equate it with the love for Pakistan need to raise their intellect. These unprofessional are giving bad name to army as these people have political agenda, lust for power, on foreign agendas, or think they are more intelligent that bl00dy civilians.
not sure your Acakzai is patriotic. but second statement is true 100 percent. how get patriotic leader we were force to vote less worse person.