By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
Islamabad: The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project intends to build Pakistan’s most needed infrastructure and boost its economy by constructing modern transportation networks, setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and numerous energy projects.
Geo-strategically, CPEC project is located between three key important landlocked regions of the globe including economically emerging and rich-resourced Central Asia, oil-rich Western Asia and thickly populated South Asia.
After globalization, digital technology is transforming the world into global-digital-village in the real sense of modern technology usage, and regional integration is a key aspect of this information mechanism. If make a comparison of Central and South Asia is made, the earlier is rich in oil and gas resources, while the later is a region developing at a rapid pace, and its internal energy resources are insufficient.
Therefore, the construction of physical-infrastructural linkages and increase in trade volume among the Asian regions including West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia and Western China will be mutually beneficial.In this connection Pakistan`s Gwadar deep sea-port has outshined with multi prospects to emerge as regional trade and energy transportation hub.
Sources in the Board of Investment (BoI) told reporters about the possible profit statistics in the head of toll collection, that if completed till 2030, the CPEC toll income would be three times the budget of Pakistan.
A document of United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) which maintains the Energy Statistics Database reveals that China’s annual crude oil imports from OPEC countries during 2019 increased to an average of 10.1 million barrels per day (b/d), which was an increase of 0.9 million b/d as compared to the 2018 average import.China remains the world’s top crude oil importer, surpassing the United States in 2017.
China’s new refinery capacity and strategic inventory stockpiling, combined with flat domestic oil production, were the major factors contributing to the increase in China’s crude oil imports in 2019.According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Annual Statistical Bulletin (ASB) estimates, 79.4 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves are located in OPEC Member Countries, with the bulk of OPEC oil reserves in the Middle East, amounting to 64.5 percent of the OPEC total. It may be mentioned here that OPEC’s proven oil reserves currently stand at 1,189.80 billion barrels.
Lahore Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI) president Mian Anjum Nisar told reporters that the setting up of economic zones and upgrading the industrial sector would bring industrialisation revolution in the country, adding these mega projects would be set up under the 2nd phase of CPEC.
After becoming fully operational Gwadar would become a harbinger of massive export import activity and a gateway to both the Persian Gulf and Central Asian countries, he noted.
