Islamabad - The China pakistan economic Corridor (CpeC) is recognized by the world Bank (wB) as offering enormous opportunities to pakistan. “with investments in road, railways and ports, the $60 billion CpeC offers enormous potential for pakistan to boost its economy, reduce poverty, spread benefits widely and help those likely to be affected by the new trade route,” reveals a report prepared by the world Bank report.
The report ‘web of Transport Corridors in south asia’ carried by Gwadar pro, says that the CpeC has proved itself as a vital economic tonic to pakistan by administrating those development booster shots that are revamping its infrastructure, energy, export, trade, transportation, agriculture, employment, medicine, IT, mobile technology and many more. with these booster shots, during the last 10 years, more than 30 projects generating direct and indirect 200,000 jobs have been completed and more are in different phases of development, setting a tone for sustainable economic progress. since its inception ten years ago, CpeC has transformed pakistan’s infrastructural landscape. according to the Ministry of energy, by October 2022, 11 projects with a total capacity of over 6,370 Mw have been completed, and an hVDC Transmission Line of 880 km has been constructed.
Three more projects with a capacity of around 1,200 Mw are expected to be completed within 2023-24. Most recently, the 1,320 Mw Thar Coal Block-I has started commercial operations. In addition to the completed projects under CpeC, several other projects are under process, which will further boost pakistan’s energy infrastructure.
The 884Mw suki Kinari hydropower project in Khyber pakhtunkhwa has already completed 70% of the work. The Kohala hydropower project in azad Jammu and Kashmir, with a capacity of 1,124 Mw, the azad pattan hydropower project with a capacity of 700.7 Mw, and the Cacho wind power project with a capacity of 50 Mw are also under process. Moreover, CpeC has also helped pakistan upgrade its transportation infrastructure.
The peshawar-Karachi Motorway (Multan-sukkur section), hakla - D.I Khan Motorway, and the Orange Line Metro Train in Lahore are some of the infrastructure projects completed under CpeC. The KKh phase II (havelian - Thakot section) has also been completed, which has received international recognition.
