Diplomacy of hospitality: PM to host lunch

to settle corridor route controversy

ISLAMABAD: 
As criticism over the alleged change in the route of the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) intensifies, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
has invited leaders from all political parties to lunch on Wednesday
(today) to address their concerns.

“The prime minister has called all parties’ leaders over for lunch to
discuss the economic corridor,” Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif
told a news conference in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The corridor has attracted considerable criticism after allegations

emerged that the route has been changed to avoid most cities in
Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and instead pass through Punjab
and Sindh. Historically, Pakistan’s transportation infrastructure has
been relatively more developed in the eastern two provinces and far less
developed in the western two provinces. CPEC was seen by many in the
smaller provinces as an opportunity to correct that historical imbalance,
an opportunity that many thought the Nawaz Administration might
squander.

The debate over CPEC has been sharpened by the fact that the Punjab
government is run by the ruling PML-N while its main rival, the PTI, is
in office in K-P. The rivalry between the two centre-right parties was the
subject of much of Khawaja Asif’s press conference on Tuesday.

Asif alleged that the PTI-led government in K-P was using the economic
corridor for political gain and urged PTI leadership to avoid using
national issues for such purposes. He added that the federal
government has been in talks with K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak
over the matter.
Diplomacy of hospitality: PM to host lunch
to settle corridor route controversy
“They have given us nine questions about the Economic Corridor
including funding from China which they alleged was not an investment
but loans,” he said, adding that all agreements which were signed
during Chinese President Xi Jing ping’s visit were investments and not
loans.

Asif also addressed the allegation that the bulk of the Chinese-funded
projects would be located in Punjab. “Punjab’s share will be 25%
whereas 75% of the projects under CPEC will go to other provinces,” he
said.

The minister also said that the bulk of power projects associated with
CPEC would not be in Punjab, pointing out that Gilgit-Baltistan would
have an additional 11,917 megawatts in installed power generation
capacity, Sindh would get 10,250MW, K-P 9,410 MW, Punjab
5,000MW, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 4,029MW, and Balochistan
2,720MW. He also added that the federally owned power distribution
companies were providing uninterrupted power supply to industrial
areas in K-P for the last eight months.

Asif also took potshots at the PPP government in Sindh, pointing out
that the provincial government there is the biggest defaulter of
electricity bills, owing Rs66 billion in unpaid bills.

He also clarified that the ban on solar and wind power projects was a
temporary measure that would last until the government was able to
revise the tariff structure based on the dramatic reduction in costs of
energy from those alternative sources.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13 th,  2015.