Majority of issues related to CPEC projects resolved

ISLAMABAD: The third meeting of the Pak-China Relations Steering Committee on Wednesday discussed various issues relating to the CPEC projects in power, infrastructure and industrial cooperation sectors.

The committee was informed that a number of issues discussed during the last meeting, had been resolved as per the directions of the Committee, while some others were under process for approval of the relevant fora.

The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.

The Power Division informed the committee that the proposals for extension of the commercial operation date of six power projects were under process and the matter will be discussed in the upcoming board meeting of the Central Power Purchasing Agency.

The committee was informed that the Right of Way Issue (RoA) near Karachi of 660kV HVDC Matiari-Lahore Transmission Line had been resolved and power was now being evacuated through the transmission line.

The committee was also briefed on the 880MW Sukki-Kinari hydropower project. The chair directed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to resolve the operational issues being faced by the project on a priority basis.

The Ministry of Communications secretary also briefed the committee on the ongoing projects in the infrastructure under CPEC and said the re-alignment of Thakot-Raikkot is a critical component of the northern alignment.

The secretary also highlighted that a G2G technical committee has been formed for the project and the terms of reference of the committee have also been shared with the Chinese side for views and comments.

Umar also directed that a meeting should be convened soon under the chair of Planning Commission deputy chairman to discuss the financing modalities of the project.

The committee also discussed the issues being faced by the investors in different Special Economic Zones. The Punjab Board of Investment and Trade and the KP EPZ Authority updated the committee on the individual issues of various investors.

The Sindh Investment Department said the developer for Dhabeji SEZ had been identified and the final approval would be granted soon.

Planning Commission deputy chairman, special assistant to the prime minister on CPEC, foreign, interior, Railways, power, finance secretaries, National Security Adviser, and senior officers of the ministries/divisions and provincial departments attended the meeting.