In September and October 2015, the UK government announced two separate grants to the Pakistani government for the construction of complementary roads to the CPEC. [56] [57] In November 2015, China included the CPEC in its 13th Five-Year Development Plan[58], while in December 2015, China and Pakistan agreed on an additional investment of USD 1.5 billion to establish an information and technology park under the CPEC project. [59] On April 8, 2016, during the visit of Xinjiang Communist Party chief Zhang Chunxian, Xinjiang companies signed additional agreements with their Pakistani colleagues amounting to US$2 billion in infrastructure, solar energy, and logistics. [60] April 2015 Pakistan and China signed an agreement to start working on development projects worth $46 billion. The CPEC is announced as an “economic and development project for the benefit of the people of the region”. After a brief pause, geopolitical developments in the region last year boosted CPEC projects in Pakistan. As a result, two new agreements for hydropower projects in Pakistani-administered Kashmir were signed successively, as well as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) agreement in Faisalabad. These measures have given CPEC supporters reason to claim that projects in the country are once again moving in the right direction. With the signing of the new agreements, officials from both countries were pleased that the CPEC had returned to its previous pace, resulting in an avalanche of articles – including in The Diplomat – highlighting the steps taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan`s government to revive CPEC projects, which had slowed significantly since it took office in 2018.
The CPEC addresses Pakistan as a whole and will bring benefits to the people of Pakistan, including people in the western regions. Some CPEC projects in western Pakistan are progressing. For example, Phase II of KKH (Thakot in Havelian) and the Suki Kinari hydroelectric power plant are located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Sino-Pakistani cross-border fiber optic cable project and the modernization of the ML1 railway (framework agreement that will be actively discussed from December 2016) also pass through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Peshawar and Quetta are included in the streets of the CPEC as crossroads. The CPEC transport monographic study, approved in the 5th CCM, includes the Burhan-D.I.Khan, Quetta-Sorab roads as short-term projects. Gwadar Port, Gwadar Free Trade Area, Gwadar East-Bay Highway, Gwadar International Airport, Gwadar Coal Power Plant and Hubco Coal Power Plant are all located in Balochistan Province. On the 12th.
In August 2015, China and Pakistan signed another 20 agreements worth $1.6 billion in the city of Karamay to further expand the scope and scope of the CPEC. [52] The details of the plan are opaque,[53] but will focus primarily on increasing energy generation capacity. [54] Under the agreement, Pakistan and China agreed to cooperate in the field of space research. [55] China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major bilateral project to improve infrastructure in Pakistan for better trade with China and further integration of countries in the region. The project was launched on April 20, 2015, when Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed 51 agreements and memoranda of understanding worth $46 billion. The goal of the CPEC is both to transform Pakistan`s economy by modernizing its road, rail, air and energy transport systems, as well as to connect Pakistan`s deep-water ports of Gwadar and Karachi by land to China`s Xinjiang province and beyond. (Xinjiang borders the countries of Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, and the ancient Silk Road ran through its territory.) This would reduce the time and cost of transporting goods and energy such as natural gas to China by bypassing the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea. The announcement of joint space and satellite initiatives between Pakistan and China, led by the CPEC, followed in 2016.
CPEC is part of the broader Belt and Road Initiative to improve connectivity, trade, communication and cooperation among Eurasian countries, announced by China in 2013. The CPEC has been compared to the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II in terms of its potential impact on the region, and many countries have expressed interest in participating in the initiative. Our editors will review what you have submitted and decide if you want to review the article. That same month, a delegation of seven senators visited China. Upon their return from China, all senators issued press releases, stating unequivocally that Balochistan would get nothing from the CPEC. One of the senators, Senator Kabir Muhammad Shahi, also claimed that while 60% of the funds will be used for power generation, with the exception of 300 MW for the port of Gwadar, not even 1 MW will go to Balochistan. [423] [424] India, Iran, and Afghanistan have also signed an agreement to simplify transit procedures between the three countries. [311] Despite the express desire to bypass Pakistan in order to strengthen Iranian-Indian economic relations, Indian goods destined for Iran do not currently need to be transported via Pakistan, as these goods can be exported to Iran via Bandar Abbas, where India currently has a diplomatic mission. [321] Bandar Abbas is also seen as a key hub on the North-South transport corridor, which has been supported by India and Russia since 2002.
[322] [323] Indian goods may also be imported and transit through Iran upon arrival at Bandar-e Emam Khomeini, near the Iraqi border. The first infrastructure works in the Port of Gwadar began in 2002 and were completed in 2007,[43] but plans to modernize and expand the Port of Gwadar are at a standstill. March 2017 An agreement for the construction of a $1.5 billion oil refinery, irrigation projects and a $2 billion highway from Chitral to DI Khan is finalized. An efficient and fast transportation system is crucial for economic development. The CPEC essentially follows the North-South corridor in Pakistan. The existing road network should be used at the beginning, with missing connections being developed first, the simplest being a priority, through scientific planning. .