LAHORE: Former Senior Vice President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has expressed grave concern on the controversy being created on Pak-China Economic Corridor urging government to start the project immediately lest issue flares up like Kalabagh dam.
In a statement he said the corridor will prove a game changer in regional co-operation therefore the government should focus on timely implementation of this mega project.
He said that Pak-China Economic Corridor is likely to write a new success story of socio-economic development and it is the duty of the government to save it from any sort of controversies. Large mother ships will board at natural deep sea Gwadar port only if China routes its container cargo through the proposed corridor. He said resultant revenues that Pakistan would generate from trans-shipment through this corridor would enrich the government purse for development projects.
He appreciated the Planning Commission of Pakistan for choosing an economical, logical and considerably short route for building the proposed economic corridor that will pass through southern districts of Pakhtunkhwa into Balochistan and go onward to Quetta and Gwadar.
Basit said that Pak-China Economic Corridor is not just a big road. It includes rail tracks, oil and gas pipelines, fiber-optic cable, projects for energy resources and Industrial parks. It would bring prosperity to the most backward areas of the country.
He said that Pak-China Economic Corridor will go a long way to revive the area and defeat extremism and terrorism. He said that rumor-mongering about the route change of Pak-China Economic Corridor is a deep-rooted conspiracy that has been hatched to cause undue delay to this important project that bound to change our fate. Abdul Basit said that we had already suffering badly because of delay in the construction of Kalabagh Dam that had fallen prey to anti-state elements and could not come up despite sincere efforts.
