The dedication and untiring efforts of the incumbent government and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) diplomatic, technical staff of both countries have shifted the focus of cooperation from geo-politics to geo-economics by bringing it to fruition, experts said on Sunday.
They said that CPEC was playing a key role in transforming the development landscape of Pakistan with the launch of several multi-billion-dollar projects. If one goes through analysis of one decade, the start of CPEC was a concerted move by the then prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 to shift the focus of cooperation from geo-politics to geo-economics. Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Kashf Anwar told Media that today, the premiership of Shehbaz Sharif and leadership of Planning Minister Prof. AhsanIqbal deserve the highest praise for having brought CPEC to its fruition. As of now, more than 150 countries, with 75 per cent of the world’s population and half of the world’s GDP, have signed up to the BRI.
CPEC, a principal component of BRI, aims to connect Pakistan’s Gwadar port city to China’s Xinjiang region through a network of roads, railways, and pipelines, he said. To a query Anwar said that CPEC has the potential to significantly impact the entire region. Under CPEC, both governments have decided to overcome the then energy crisis in Pakistan, he said, adding that to guarantee energy security, multiple projects of 17,045MW, worth $33 billion, have been envisaged.
As of now, 13 power generation projects with a total installed capacity of 8,020MW have been achieved, including 5,000MW which is based on indigenous fuels (Thar coal, hydel, solar and wind) and fall in the higher merit of dispatch order. These have substantially improved the energy-mix in Pakistan, WAPDA house, official sources told APP . A first-ever 660-kV HVDC transmission line with evacuation capacity of 4,000-MW is also operational.
