Islamabad: Of the 12 China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) schemes, including water supply and electricity provision, worth $2 billion underway in Gwadar, only three projects having a value of over $300 million have been completed.
According to the CPEC Authority, the progress review of the projects revealed that all the schemes having socio-economic benefits for Gwadar, considered as the crown jewel of project, were falling behind their original completion schedules, The Express Tribune reported.
The CPEC Authority, which Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal wants to wrap up, gave the status update report to the new government last month.
So far, only three schemes have been declared completed by the CPEC Authority, including $4 million Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan, which cannot be called a project, The Express Tribune reported.
The other two schemes are the Physical Infrastructure of Gwadar Port and the Free Zone Phase-1 costing $300 million and Pakistan-China Technical and Vocational Institute that has been built with a $10 million Chinese grant.
Even there is no indigenous electricity for the port, as the country imports power from Iran to meet the city’s energy needs.
CPEC remained dormant during most of the time of the previous PTI government but lately there had been some progress after the last political regime brought in Khalid Mansoor as special assistant to the PM on CPEC affairs.
Yet, he could not take these schemes across the finishing line.
The $179 million Eastbay Expressway, a road link connecting the port with free zone and the city, that should have been completed a few years ago, is still shown as an under-implementation scheme, although on documents the project is 99 per cent completed.
China has provided interest-free loan for the scheme.
The CPEC Authority expects that the project will be completed by June.
–IANS
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