Engineering Post Report
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a long term programme of the two all weather, time-tested friendly neighbouring countries China and Pakistan.
The overall aim of CPEC is to act as a “Gateway of Prosperity” for both the countries and the region at large. The corridor focuses to open various doors of prosperity in trade and marketing access , industrial development and global value chains, socio-economic development and poverty alleviation, agricultural modernization and marketing, Gwadar Oil City and blue economy, regional connectivity and third-party participation. This will help in enhancing livelihood of the people, especially in the deprived regions of both the countries.
The CPEC would connect Gwadar Port of Pakistan to China’s north-western region of Xinjiang via a network of highways and railways.
The economic corridor is considered central to China-Pakistan relations and is stretched over 2700 kilometers from Gwadar to Kashghar.On the whole, the entire programme is expected to be completed in three phases over 15 years in short term from 2015-20,medium term 2021-25 and long term 2026-30.
The CPEC is an extension of China’s 21st century Silk Road Initiative or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is a strategic initiative for the entire region, that aims to make Pakistan an economically viable and business –friendly country. Investments under CPEC in infrastructure and energy sectors, though implementation of early harvest projects , have filled in the voids and accelerated the pace of economic growth of the country that will ultimately provide a momentous boost to the national economy.
In the first phase of implementation of CPEC , called Early Harvest Projects, priority was given to develop prerequisites of CPEC to initiate the economic activities. To this end, infrastructure was the main focus.
In order to realize the vision of CPEC, in letter and spirit, the Corridor now emphasizes on areas which directly or indirectly contribute to the socio-economic uplift for the people of Pakistan. Industrialization and agriculture modernization are the preferred areas to bring about employment, enhance trade and earning precious foreign exchange.
Significant progress made under CPEC during financial year 2019-20 will be dilated upon later, please.
