Power projects prioritized in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
- By Li Shen
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 9, 2014
The CPEC was inaugurated in Islamabad last August after it was proposed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Pakistan in May. It had been further solidified during Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain's visit to Beijing this February.
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The CPEC will make Gwadar Port a primary gateway for trade between China and Middle East and Europe. [File photo] |
![The CPEC will make Gwadar Port a primary gateway for trade between China and Middle East and Europe. [File photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20140709/001ec949c22b15272dbe1e.jpg "The CPEC will make Gwadar Port a primary gateway for trade between China and Middle East and Europe. [File photo]")
This project geographically refers to a 2,000-kilometer rail and road link from Kashgar in west China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the southwestern Pakistani port of Gwadar. But it also includes projects in the energy, infrastructure, industrial, agriculture, financial, telecommunications and service sectors along this route. Both sides have identified 30 projects under the CPEC.
Iqbal told China.org.cn on June 19 that the whole CPEC project will be completed by 2030.
The two countries established the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) and held the first meeting on August 27, 2013 in Islamabad. Co-governed by the NDRC and Ministry for Planning and Development in Pakistan, JCC conducts studies on key issues related to the economic corridor, including infrastructure, transportation, energy and investment. The third meeting is expected to be held in Islamabad in this August.
At present, China is the 16th largest investor in Pakistan. Iqbal hopes China will top the list after the completion of CPEC.
To China, the building of the CPEC is an important part of the initiatives of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and is also key in the strategy of western regional development, said Huang Renwei, vice president of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
Transferred to China's state-owned China Overseas Ports Holding in February 2013, Gwadar Port is the deepest deep-water commercial port in Pakistan. On June 5, the federal government of Pakistan approved an acquisition of land for the Gwadar free trade zone at US$63.8 million to further boost its expansion. Besides the free trade zone, an airport, hospital and technique training institute are also planned under the CPEC.
Once completed, the distance of goods transported from Urumqi in Xinjiang to Dubai via the Gwadar Port will be 5,772 kilometers, saving 11061 kilometers compared with the old route via Shanghai. And the distance from Urumqi to London will be vastly cut by 10,884 kilometers. This will make Gwadar a primary gateway for trade between China and Middle East and Europe as well as making Xinjiang a transit hub for China.
"The CPEC project will not only strengthen bilateral economic ties, but also grow and develop regional trade, covering markets in South Asia, China and Central Asia and transform 3 billion lives in the region." Iqbal said.
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