ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform has rejected the statement of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) founder Saeed Ahmed Hashmi in which he quoted Minister for Planning, Development & Reform Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar as saying that the western route is not part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

In a statement issued on Saturday, the ministry clarified the news item — ‘Western route not part of CPEC, says BAP leader’ — published in Dawn on Friday.

It said Mr Hashmi’s statement was completely incorrect, baseless and wrongly attributed to the minister. Mr Bakhtyar had time and again stated on different forums that the western route is part of the CPEC and it would be completed to ensure uplift of the less developed areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, it added.

The ministry said: “Contracting Chinese financing for the Western route project ‘Upgradation of D.I.Khan (Yarik) — Zhob, Phase-I (210 km)’ is one of the important deliverable for the next Joint Cooperation Committee of CPEC, scheduled to be held in the 3rd week of this month. As per the approved plan of CPEC, Western route consists of Peshawar-Burhan/Hakla Yarik/ D.I.Khan — Mughalkot — Zhob — Quetta — Sorab — Basima — Hoshab and Gwadar section. Construction work on Hakla-D.I.Khan section is underway and planned to be completed in 2019. Yarik/D.I.Khan-Zhob section of western alignment was approved by the ECNEC in April 2017, for which financing options are under discussion. Other two remaining sections, Zhob — Kutchlak / Quetta and Quetta — Sohrab are in feasibility study stage.”

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2018