Pakistan’s Ambassador to China: We are an active participant in the Belt and Road Initiative

Mengya Liu, Hiunam Chin, Furong Jia, Shuo Bu
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail chinagate.cn, August 21, 2017
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China.org.cn:

The CPEC passes through many poor areas in Pakistan. What opportunities does it create for improving the lives of the poor along the corridor?

Mr. Masood Khalid:

Of course, CPEC development is a project because it means concrete on the ground projects. I have already mentioned infrastructure projects, the port, and power projects. Now let me tell you that in the power sector the progress has been good. We are working on about sixteen power projects, to add about ten thousand megawatts of electricity by next year, by 2018.

Under this program, some major projects have already entered service. For example, last month in July the inauguration of the first coal-based power plant – more than 1,300 megawatts – took place in the Punjub province of Pakistan. Other similar projects – also big in scale – are likely to be operational by the end of this year.

Side by side, we are working on hydro projects, solar power projects, and wind power projects. Some of the wind power projects will also become operational soon. All in all, I think the work on power generation is going smoothly. What we aim to achieve is to remedy a power shortfall that you know we have been facing for many many years, which was impeding economic development of Pakistan.

So by generating, by overcoming this deficit of power in our system and in our national grid, we will be able to give a boost to the process of social economic development and to our economy. You must have seen that in the last two or three years Pakistan’s economic indicators have improved significantly, and there has been micro-economic stability in Pakistan which has been acknowledged and welcomed by independent analysts and accrediting agencies.

I think this is because of the growth in the economic sector. Our GDP has also shown improvement – we hope to achieve more than 5.4 percent or 5.5 percent growth this year. Last year the GDP grew by 4.7 percent, an unprecedented figure in the context of the last seven years.

So, your question was how will it benefit the people, right? Obviously, there are projects, there are jobs, and the infrastructure has improved, so the CPEC is contributing to the socioeconomic development of Pakistan and to the welfare of the Pakistani people.

China.org.cn:

When people talk about the CPEC, they should not neglect the subject of Gwadar port. At present, the cargo throughput of Gwadar port is not very high. What measures will China and Pakistan take to address this problem in the future?

Mr. Masood Khalid:

Actually, activity is now picking up at Gwadar port. You know, the development of a port takes time. So work is continuing on the port and we have given a contract to a Chinese company which is working there. Also we are planning to set up a power plant there, to provide electricity to the city and to the port. We are planning to expand the existing airport and build highways in Gwadar. So other projects are also under way. I think in three to four years you will see Gwadar become a different city, and Gwadar port will be fully operational.

In fact, I heard very recently that ships have now started arriving and they are bringing cargo and equipment for the work on the port. So I think all in all the progress is good. Of course we need to work faster on the airport, because if you don’t have a good airport you can’t have good business. So we need the airport as soon as possible, and the roads. Gwadar has huge potential; for example, one sector that can be developed by Chinese entrepreneurs is the fishing industry – the quality of sea food there is excellent. In fact, one company from Xinjiang has started to import seafood into China, but this industry needs to be upgraded. So the local fishermen can use modern technology to catch fish and to process and export them. So fishery, minerals, marble and granite – I think there is great potential to exploit these resources in the future.

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