The Interior Ministry has issued a notification for the establishment of a Special Security Division set up for the protection of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.

According to an official of the Planning Division, a deployment order will be issued by the ministry after requisition from the provinces.

A CPEC parliamentary committee was told in August 2016 that the Special Security Division would comprise 15,000 troops, including 9,000 Pakistan Army soldiers and 6,000 para-military forces personnel.

Read more: 15,000 troops of Special Security Division to protect CPEC projects, Chinese nationals

Defence ministry officials told the committee that the SSD has been assigned the responsibility of protecting Chinese workers and CPEC projects.

The government had earlier allocated Rs1.3 billion for CPEC security in addition to efforts made by the provincial governments, the committee was told.

The cost of raising the SSD was Rs0.5bn according to officials briefing the committee.