KARACHI: Federal Minister for Interior, Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, on Friday said that Pakistan has achieved many milestones under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and removed main bottleneck for the development of the country.
He was addressing the conference organized at Pakistan International Trade Fair (PITF 2017) here at the EXPO Centre. The Minister further said that Pakistan is rising and we assure the world that CPEC will facilitate the whole region. Under the CPEC many projects have been materialized and now exist on the grounds.
He specially shed light on energy projects and said within a four years of time under CPEC project around 10,000 Megawatt energy projects are in progress. Today, loadshedding has been minimized and industrial sector is being provided uninterrupted electricity and gas supplies.
Under the CPEC we are working on many strategies including infrastructure development, energy generation, transport infrastructure as around US$ 35 billion earmarked for energy sector only. Today, CPEC is connecting whole Pakistan and within a short span of time Karachi and Hyderabad will be called as twin cities as CPEC has shortened the distance between the both cities.
Karachi-Peshawar Motorways will be completed by 2019. Karachi Railway project now has been made a part of CPEC. We have reduced the distance between Quetta and Gawadar under the CPEC. Its distance now has been reduced to only 8 hours long. He said many other benefits are being materialized under the CPEC. Industrialists are happy and citizens can find more job opportunities as compared to past.
The Minister said energy, transport and infrastructure projects have triggered the progress and development of the country.
The relocation of labor intensive from China would benefit Pakistan to seize opportunities for bolstering local industry and subsequent recreation of millions of jobs’, he added saying that the relocation of industry from China would create employment opportunities.
Earlier, Mohammad Hanif Gohar Chairman National Fairs & Exhibitions- FPCCI, said CPEC is very vital for the growth and development of the country. He said speed on CPEC projects is laudable and government achieved many milestones. China is a true friend of Pakistan and we thankful to exhibitors for their presence. S. M. Muneer Ex CEO TDAP & Leader of the Business Community said this exhibition will open bilateral trade opportunities with participating friendly countries. Further it is indeed a platform to showcase our produced products and technologies. This is going to be a resounding success and will prove to be a historic trade event.
Pakistan International Trade Fair (PITF 2017) is being organized from October 26 to 29 at Karachi Expo centre. The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) and Badar Expo Solutions are jointly organizing the international fair.
