ISLAMABAD, Feb 23:
Pakistan today approved an ambitious multi-billion dollar strategic economic corridor linking China to Gwadar port at the mouth of the Arabian Sea that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the country’s biggest road and rail project and the work on it started in December when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated a motorway from Havelian to Thakot as phase-I of the Islamabad-Raikot section of the corridor.
The CPEC is an development programme to connect Pakistan’s southern Gwadar Port to China’s northwestern Xinjiang via highways, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas.
Once the corridor is constructed, it will serve as a primary gateway for trade between China and the Middle East and Africa.
The 60-km-long 4-lane fenced Hazara Motorway in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province would cost USD 297 million and take two years to complete.
India has expressed its reservations to China over the Corridor as it is laid through the PoK. China defends the project saying it helps regional development. (PTI)
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