Pakistan to take up projects for Chinese funding in JCC talks – Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will undertake new projects for Chinese financing and investment to expand the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) of $ 46 billion when officials from the two countries meet here on November 6 as part of the annual consultations of the Committee on Joint Cooperation (JCC).

Speaking at a joint press conference together with the Minister of Energy, Omar Ayub Khan, the Minister of Railways Shaikh Rashid Ahmad and the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum, Nadeem Babar, the Minister of Planning and Development, Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, said Pakistan for the first time will formally commit to Chinese authorities during the JCC meetings to initiate negotiations on the $ 9 billion main railway line (ML-1) and DI Khan Project to the Zhob highway of the western route of the CPEC

The highway project was now the only missing link in the Islamabad to Quetta highway network that would be completed in about three years, Bakhtyar said.

He said the Karachi Circular Railroad (KCR) project would now witness progress, as it had been among the prioritized projects. He said that progress in all these projects suggested that the opposition's accusations of slowing CPEC were incorrect.

The other two ministers and the prime minister's special assistant also talked about their respective projects in the minerals, electricity, oil exploration and refining sector.

The ministers explain the plans to be discussed with Chinese officials during the annual consultations of the Joint Cooperation Committee

Bakhtyar said the vice president of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China would be taken to Gwadar on November 4 shortly after his arrival for the inauguration of a 300MW power plant.

He said that CPEC had become a key pillar of Pakistan's economic structure that would be taken to new heights after the next JCC. It stopped a question related to the number of additional projects and their estimated costs or the revised size of the CPEC.

In this regard, he said, ML-1 would now become the most important CPEC project to replace the obsolete 1,872 km railway from Karachi to Peshawar. There would be progress in financial commitments on this during the JCC meeting, he added.

On the question of whether internal disagreements between various government stakeholders about cost estimates and the various phases of the rail project had been resolved, Mr. Bakhtyar said the project costs will be finalized after a study is completed. that has not yet been designated as an international consultant during the project sequence would be carried out taking into account the country's debt levels with respect to GDP. The project will be completed in about seven years and its completion would in fact contribute to GDP and, therefore, your loan would maintain the debt / GDP ratio, he added.

Bakhtyar said the rail ministry had presented its feasibility study of the ML-1 project and that an international consultant would be hired while discussing its execution and financing during the next JCC. He said there would be a joint committee (China-Pakistan) on project financing.

Rolling material

Shaikh Rashid said the ML-1 project would almost double the speed of the railroad to 160 km per hour after China replaced the obsolete track of 1861. He said the project would include rolling stock and other equipment and generate about 100,000 jobs.

He said that Pakistan Railways had cleared an area of ​​38 km from the KCR, adding that the remaining 5 km could not be cleared without the full support of the provincial government. He said the federal government was ready to provide alternative land, but that the provincial government would have to take responsibility for the construction of housing facilities for displaced people.

Mr. Rashid said that the approval of the Gwadar Master Plan would be "another deliverable" of the JCC that would also set the dates for the inauguration of some special economic / industrial zones. He said that investments by Chinese and other investors in these areas had been under discussion during the previous government's mandate and would now move further.

The planning minister said that during the JCC meetings the two parties would also hold discussions on the inclusion of Pakistan Steel Mills and other investments in the steel sector in addition to housing, mineral development, agriculture and tourism in the CPEC Long Term Plan until 2030

Energy Minister Omar Ayub said that the two sides were jointly conducting a market survey to increase the participation of power plants in domestic fuels in Pakistan and that talks would be held during the JCC on the location of renewable energy projects and its evacuation through transmission lines to load centers.

In this context, he said, projects such as the Mahl Hydroelectric Project, the Azad Pattan Hydroelectric Project, a series of hydroelectric projects in the Indus Waterfall and the Taunsa Hydroelectric Power Plant, would be offered to the Chinese side. He said Pakistan pointed out that 70-80 percent of its energy needs to be satisfied through national sources by 2030 and that Chinese companies would be a key player in this regard. He said that 30 percent of each for renewable sources (solar and wind) and hydroelectric power and 10 percent for Thar's coal and nuclear energy went to 2030.

Nadeem Babar said four key areas in the oil sector would be presented to the JCC. These include the South-North gas pipeline, the improvement of the Pakistan refinery and the creation of new petrochemical complexes in addition to the transformation of coal to liquid from the Thar deposit to produce diesel.

In addition, a total of 35 new exploration blocks were auctioned before December next year and Chinese investors were also asked to benefit from these auctions. He said that China was also being asked for an investment in the development of gas storage, as Pakistan had developed a gas network of approximately 5 billion cubic feet per day that was expected to increase to 7 BCFD in approximately three years. .

Posted on Dawn, November 2, 2019