Pick up the pace of work on CPEC projects, ministries told

ISLAMABAD:

A cabinet body overseeing the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on Tuesday directed the ministries to remove irritants for fast-paced execution of the projects and gave them a stern warning that if the task was not completed within a week they would face the music.

The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on CPEC (CCoCPEC) was convened to review the progress ahead of the Joint Cooperation Committee meeting, but it ended sooner than planned due to pendency of many issues.

“The cabinet committee emphasised that unresolved inter-ministerial issues should be brought before the CCoCPEC directly by the respective ministries along with recommendations for their resolution,” the Ministry of Planning and Development said.

The chairman of the CCoCPEC, Asad Umar, set new deadlines for the bureaucracy to resolve matters that are lingering for quite some time and carried implications for the $53 billion planned portfolio.

A senior government functionary told The Express Tribune that Umar asked the ministries to submit new summaries highlighting pending issues within two days. He directed that these summaries should be submitted by the weekend.

The meeting of the cabinet committee would now be held next Wednesday, according to a senior official.

Umar is said to have warned that he would bring the matter to the notice of Prime Minister Imran Khan if the bureaucracy still did not show progress.

Umar said in the meeting that the ministries were not taking their responsibility seriously, said another government official.

Asad Umar was not available for comments.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also raised the issue of slow progress during the meeting, saying that CPEC’s progress should not affect the strategic nature of the bilateral relationship.

CPEC Authority Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa gave an overview of the CPEC projects.

The official handout by the planning ministry stated that the meeting was briefed on the overall progress of CPEC projects in industrial cooperation, energy, infrastructure, Gwadar, science and technology, socio-economic development, agriculture, transport and communications and issues faced in the implementation of these projects.

News Source: Tribune.com.pk