GWADAR: Balochistan government has decided to initiate various development and public welfare projects in Gwadar, besides expediting the water projects to resolve the longstanding issue of availability of potable water in the city.
An official of the provincial government told media that the government has formulated a plan to initiate development and renovation work to improve old structure of Gwadar.
In this regard, the government has allocated a huge amount to construct and rehabilitate roads in the area.
He said the government would construct ‘Eastbay Expressway’ as the road will be the main artery of Gwadar Port through which the entire traffic of port will flow.
“The objective of Eastbay Expressway is to provide primary connectivity of the port with the network of national highways.”
Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yu Jing Friday emphasised that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was the essence of bilateral and long-term relations between China and Pakistan. “The CPEC will develop infrastructure in Pakistan,” he said, while speaking at a dialogue on CPEC hosted by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations (KCFR) at a hotel.
Yu Jing said that China was doing huge investment on a partnership basis. “We were helping Pakistan in various sectors including education, technical education, agriculture, social development, technology transfer etc.”
“CPEC will connect China with Gwadar and will lead [businesses] to Kandahar, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Russia,” he said, adding “We are trying hard to make the world a better place to live. Gwadar is an emerging port of Pakistan which possesses a long awaited dream of Pakistanis and the government”.
The ambassador said: “We are waiting for free zone policy of the government of Pakistan, after which we will launch 19 projects in Gwadar […] China is spending US$40 million annually to keep Gwadar port functional and it has started commercial operations.”
“In the next phase of Free Trade Agreement (FTA), we will establish manufacturing units of agriculture, sea food and other industries which will provide huge employment opportunities to the people [of Pakistan].”
