ISLAMABAD: Senators from different political parties have accused the government of pushing the smaller provinces to the wall by depriving them of benefits of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and urged it to make the agreement with China on the CPEC public to bring the controversy to an end.

Taking part in a discussion on an adjournment motion moved by Jehanzaib Jamaldini on Wednesday, the senators asked for disclosure of minutes of the meeting of the Pakistan-China joint cooperation committee on the CPEC. They sought to know if a special economic zone to be established in Gwadar would be tax-free for 40 years and if so what would be its benefits for Pakistan. They said they wondered if China would control the whole project or the control would rest with Pakistan.

The senators expressed concern over reports suggesting that entire workforce for the project would be from China and raw material would also be imported from there.

They warned that the continued deprivation of the smaller provinces might ‘pose a threat to the federation’ if the behaviour of ‘Lahore dynasty’ did not change.

Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement asked if Gwadar would only be used as a transit route for export of crude oil to China or an oil refinery would be set up in Balochistan under the project.

Farhatullah Babar of the PPP cited a media report according to which the security establishment wanted to run the project itself or by a new body and said nobody had tweeted to confirm or deny the report.

Daud Achakzai said Chinese interest in the project was due to Gwadar, but there was not a single energy project proposed for Balochistan, though a major chunk of Rs46 billion envisaged for the project was to be spent on energy projects.

Winding up the discussion on behalf of Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab dispelled the impression that efforts were being made to make Punjab the only beneficiary of the project while ignoring other provinces. No injustice will be done to the other federating units.

He said two coal-based projects of 660 megawatts each were being built at Port Qasim in Karachi which would start generating power in 2017. Besides, two projects having the capacity of 230MW each were being constructed in Thar and another two of 660MW capacity each in Sahiwal.

He said the feasibility for three hydel projects to generate 870MW in Mansehra was ready and land was being acquired for the projects. Other hydel projects include a 720MW project in Karor, Azad Kashmir, and another 1100MW project in Kohala.

Mr Aftab said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be the major beneficiary of the project as its area spread over five districts between Khunjerab and Burhan was located in the province. KP will be connected with Gwadar in the next two years.

He said the CPEC was not a short-term project as work on it would continue till 1930. A dual railway track from Peshawar to Karachi will be built under the project.

He rejected the claims that there was no deep-sea berth at Gwadar port and said three such berths were operational there and dozens more were to be built. A new airport will be built in Gwadar at a cost of Rs22bn, besides construction of two dams. Gwadar will also have a 300MW electricity project and a liquefied natural gas terminal.

The minister said special economic zones in the four provinces would be established in consultation with their chief ministers.

But he failed to satisfy the senators who wanted to know if a formal written agreement had been signed between Pakistan and China on the project.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said he did not want to embarrass Mr Aftab on the question and avoided putting the burden on him. He told him to ask the planning and development minister to attend the proceedings on Thursday or Friday to answer the question.

The house will meet again on Thursday (today) at 3pm.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2016