PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser moved an application with the Peshawar High Court on Monday seeking multiple directives to the federal government regarding development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s (CPEC) western route.

He has requested that the western route and related development projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa be developed on a par with the eastern route.

The speaker filed a writ petition through advocate Qazi Muhammad Anwer stating that as the custodian of the assembly, he was duty bound to follow resolutions passed regarding the CPEC.

He was accompanied by provincial ministers Shah Farman, Atif Khan and Shahram Tarakai, who said that the KP Assembly had passed five resolutions requesting the federal government to develop the western route of the CPEC along with all other development components.

Equal share for eastern and western portions sought

The respondents in the petition are: the federation of Pakistan through principal secretary to president; the prime minister through his principal secretary; planning development and reforms division through the planning secretary; the federal communications secretary; the national highway authority chairman; Pakistan Railways through the railways secretary; and the federal finance secretary.

The petitioner said the CPEC was signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Pakistan in April 2015. Under the project, China was to have direct communication by roads and railways to Gwadar, where a modern sea port was being built.

The petitioner sought orders to the respondents to honour the commitments made by the prime minister on May 28, 2015, and to initiate work on the development projects along the western route of the CPEC.

The petitioner has asked the court to direct the respondents to make an unqualified commitment that the western route would receive the same quantum of funds being spent on the eastern route and that the share of development would not be usurped by the eastern route.

He also sought directions for the respondents to provide funds for the establishment of eight industrial parks under the CPEC at Battagram, Mansehra, Captain Karnal Sher Khan Interchange on Motorway M 1, Malakand, Chakdara Interchange, Swat, Bannu (on Indus Highway) and D. I. Khan. The respondents would also ensure provision of electricity, gas, telephone lines, fibre optics, railway lines and other relevant services.

The petitioner claimed that the CPEC had four major components: highways/motorways, railways, industrial zones, water storage and power generation.

The prime minister had announced that the western route would be the primary route of the corridor and would be completed first. However, when the maps were published and budget allocations for 2015-2016 announced, they found out that the western route had not been included. Instead, the old national highway was shown repaired and patched.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2016