ISLAMABAD: In addition to some other issues hitting the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), non-provision of electricity to the Gwadar port and hurdles in the construction of Khuzdar-Bassima Highway in Balochistan are also affecting the project.

It was informed during an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC on Thursday.

A report regarding the visit of the committee’s members to China (from May 21-27) was placed before the meeting.

The Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) chairman briefed the meeting on the development of the Gwadar port and the National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman on the western route of the CPEC.

MNA Mir Ijaz Jhakrani, a member of the committee, told Dawn that the meeting focused on two main issues — provision of electricity to the Gwadar port and the construction of Khuzdar-Bassima Highway which is being constructed partly by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

“In fact, there was no consensus between officials of Wapda and GPA on provision of electricity to the Gwadar port,” he said.

Officials of the Ministry of Water and Power informed the meeting that as a result of an agreement with an Iranian company, an additional 100MW of electricity would be available for Gwadar by the end of next year.

However, GPA officials were of the view that the Gwadar port would not receive even a single unit from whatever electricity to be obtained from Iran.

“Officials of Wapda tried to assure the meeting that the Gwadar port will get supply from the imported electricity, but GPA officials insisted that the port will get nothing,” Mr Jhakrani said.

It was suggested that the contract for the remaining portion of 110km Khuzdar-Bassima Highway should be given to the FWO on the basis of a single tender because no construction firm would be ready to execute the project because of security reasons.

However, officials of the Ministry of Planning and Development said that the contract should be given through open bidding because the project would become costly if it was carried out by the FWO.

Mr Jhakrani said the meeting was informed that the FWO had lost 34 labourers in terrorist attacks by Baloch separatists, therefore, the contract should be given to it.

The committee unanimously decided that since the FWO had constructed roads in difficult terrains despite adverse security situation in certain parts of Balochistan, it should be allowed to complete the remaining 110km of the Khuzdar-Bassima Highway so that the project could get under way.

The meeting was officially informed that the Gwadar International Airport was being constructed at a cost of $260 million, which was a full grant from the Chinese government and it would be an airport of international standard capable of handling the largest of passenger planes, including A380 Boeing jets.

The Chinese government has given an additional grant of $10m for building the Pakistan-China Vocational and Technical Training Institute which will help the local population of Gwadar in getting skills and employment.

The GPA chairman informed the meeting that the construction of Sawad dam would resolve the problem of water shortage in Gwadar as water would be provided to the port city through an 83km pipeline.

The committee was also briefed on various financial incentives being provided in the Special Economic Zone of Gwadar and potential investors, both from Pakistan and abroad, are showing interest.

With these new incentives, the Gwadar port is also being activated and three new ships will arrive from China with construction material in July.

Chairman of the committee Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed informed the meeting that during his visit to China he underlined that the parliamentary committee, in its working, was guided by three key principles — consensus through consultation with all political parties and provinces, transparency in projects and decision making and inclusive development — with a focus on implementation in letter and spirit of the decisions taken at a multi-party conference held on May 28 last year.

“Among these decisions, building of the western route on a priority basis was agreed unanimously by all leaders and political parties, plus the rapid development of Gwadar port, while ensuring that the rights of the citizens of Gwadar are fully protected,” he said.

He said that in line with the work plan, the committee had already interacted with the governments of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and now it would interact with the Punjab government on July 21-23, which would include a briefing by the Punjab chief minister and visits to the Sahiwal power project and Bahawalpur solar project.

The NHA chairman informed the committee that the western route would be completed by August 2018.

“Work is under way on different segments of the route and initially it would be a modern four-lane highway to be upgraded to a six-lane motorway,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2016