Many issues related to China Pakistan Economic Corridor are unclear so far. The project, supposed to be a game and fate changer in the region, is subjected to many ambiguities and controversies. Governor State Bank, Ashraf Mehmodd Wathra, has casted doubts over the transparency and arrangement of finances for the project. He is not sure how much of the 46 billion dollars is equity, how much is in debt and how much is in kind. The smaller provinces especially Khyber Pukhtunkhwa is also not happy over the preferential treatment meted out to the much longer Eastern route of the project, as the recently inaugurated Western route is confined only to a highway without energy and railway projects. KP Chief Minister, Pervez Khattak, has threatened to boycott the project if the decisions taken in All Parties Conference in Islamabad were not implemented in letter and spirit. Another issue about transparency of the project has emerged in which the contract for construction of two highways in Balochistan was awarded to the second lowest bidder instead of the lowest one.
Surprisingly, the Federal government has kept mum over all these issues. The federal government should come clear on all the issues pertaining to the CPEC. It should make public the financial arrangement for the project. Also, preferring one province over the others without giving valid reasons will not win goodwill for the project.
M SAYYAD ALAM KHAN,
Peshawar, January 4.