Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has constituted an 11-member committee to oversee the progress on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
He made this announcement while chairing An All Parties Conference (APC) at PM House summoned to address the reservations of various political groups over the project.
The committee will be headed by the premier himself while Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Baluchistan Chief Minister Israrullah Zahri, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC Senator Mushahid Hussain will be its other members.
During the meeting, KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and representatives of some parties lamented that PM had announced to construct the Western Route of the CPEC on priority but in Federal Budget 2015-16, the amount was reserved for the Eastern Route.
However, PM assured them that CPEC will be completed with the consultation of all stakeholders after which they reaffirmed their full support for the project.
It was decided that the Western Route of the project will be constructed by July 2018 on the priority basis, and the amount of 40 billion reserved for it will be increased if needed.
The meeting decided that the Western Route will be a four-lane expressway in the first phase with a provision of conversion into six-lane Motorway, for which KP government will be responsible for land acquisition.
No decision was taken regarding the industrial parks and economic zones along the corridor, but it was decided that the work on these projects will be initiated in consultation with the provinces.
The meeting was attended by Ahsan Iqbal, Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rasheed, Special Assistant to PM on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, Pervaiz Khattak, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, Jamat-e-Islami chief Siraj-ul-Haq, KP Governor Mahtab Abbasi, Senator Mushaid Hussain Syed, PML-leader Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Senator Itazaz Ahsan, Awami Nation Party’s Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi and others.