By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: The Director of China-Pakistan Study Center, Institute of Strategic Studies, Dr Talat Shabbir, stressing the need of alleviating misconceptions among the people about China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has said that the success of the project is vital for China and its failure will adversely affect it.
He was addressing an awareness program on “CPEC Opportunities and Challenges” organized by the Institute of Engineers Pakistan (Rawalpindi, Islamabad Centre).
Dr. Attaullah Shah, Vice Chancellor of Karakoram International University, Gilgit-Baltistan, Chairman IEP-RIC Hafiz M. Ehsanul Haq Qazi, Secretary, IEP-RIC Engineer Najamuddin, Convener CPD Engineer Ahmed Shamim, Dr Sharif Bhatti, senior engineers Mahmood Khan, Qudratullah and Hafiz Yousaf were also present on the occasion.
Dr Talat Shabbir said CPEC still faces many challenges as many countries could not digest Pakistan’s prosperity.
He said the project has brought China and Pakistan much closer than ever. He further said some political players in the region fear that China-Pakistan cooperation could hurt India’s influence that is why conspiracies are being hatched by India to sabotage the CPEC’s mega project.
Some people, accused China of self-directed interests behind CPEC but it was entirely their misconception.
He said when the project was launched, no one was ready to invest in Pakistan as it was in the grip of terrorism and other security related issues and it was China which extended helping hand at that crucial time.
Dr Talat Shabbir said, CPEC is a key project for Pakistan’s economy and development and a historic opportunity that needs to take advantage of it. Work has been done on energy and infrastructure in the first phase.
Since the start of the projects, energy production has increased by more than 90 percent, benefiting millions of Pakistanis.
A network of more than 3,000 km of roads has been completed. Yes, 80 percent of the first two phases of the project have been completed while 20 percent of the work is left on the 22 under progress projects, he added.
