ISLAMABAD: The tentative alignment for the Gwadar-Kashghar Motorway has been cleared subject to feasibility studies containing commercial, technical and hydraulic aspects of the project. An official of the Communications Ministry informed that the project would facilitate transit trade in the country. It would have economic zones en-route and allow reaping of full benefits of development including economic and social uplift and creation of jobs in the country. He said the corridor from Kashgar to Khunjerab and Gwadar would not merely be a transportation link, but it would also be energy and telecommunication corridor.
This project will also be of great help in regional connectivities, he said and added that passing primarily through hinterland it was expected to affect fast track development of backward areas.
He said Pakistan would establish industrial parks and economic zones along the proposed Kashghar-Gwadar trade corridor that would connect China’s western autonomous regions with Balochistan.
As per the alignment Pak-China Motorway, this trade corridor will be around 2,000km long within the territory of Pakistan, crisscrossing snow-capped mountains, narrow valleys, lush green fields, sand dunes and dry hills.
He said that this new trade corridor would provide Chinese traders a link to deliver their goods to the international markets through the Gwadar Port.
If compared with the Chinese ports, this was the shortest possible route to the western provinces of China, the official added.
