Friday, November 13, 2015

Pakistan - #PPP criticises 'Punjab centric' CPEC projects




Opposition Leader in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah has written a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and apprised him over reservations on the alleged change in the route of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

In the letter, Shah said that Sindh was being deliberately neglected in the CPEC project which will increase anger among other provinces against Punjab. He said that the eastern route under the CPEC was being given priority while the western route which was shorter was being ignored.

He said that Sindh contributes 60 percent of Pakistan’s revenue, which also includes major gas reservoirs. Therefore neglecting this province was unfair, he said. Shah termed CPEC a once in a lifetime opportunity for Pakistan and said that the entire country should equally benefit from the billion-dollar project.

He asked the prime minister to adhere to the decisions reached at an all party conference (APC) held over the project in May this year. He also objected on the preference given to the construction of eastern route for the project ignoring the short and better western route.

He demanded of the government to revisit its policies and priorities regarding execution of CPEC and other development projects in order to keep the federation intact. He said that the objective could only be achieved by taking all the federating units into confidence and ratifying their reservations.

On the other hand, the opposition has walked out in the Senate against what it termed the irresponsible attitude of the government. They had expected an answer from the government regarding their reservations. They said that the promises made by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were not being fulfilled.

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Usman Khan Kakar pointed out that the government could not announce even single project on the western route of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/13-Nov-2015/ppp-criticises-punjab-centric-cpec-projects

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