PESHAWAR: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has said that Pakistan will enhance the scope of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan so as to connect Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the Central Asian countries.
While addressing a conference titled, ‘The role of parliament in enhancing investment, trade and people-to-people exchange under CPEC’, Qaiser said after the start of intra-Afghan talks, efforts were underway to revive this historical trade route, which would be in the best interest of the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The NA speaker said solid efforts will be made on the parliamentary level to ensure maximum benefits of CPEC projects for KP, adding that they are also playing their role to secure the due rights of the province, including its share on account of the hydel power profit.
He instructed the officials to expedite work on cases pertaining to KP’s rights in CPEC development projects, and forward a summary in this regard to National Assembly at the earliest.
On this occasion, KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan informed that the incumbent provincial government has brought more CPEC projects to the province than the previous government.
Previously, the PML-N government had just provided one CPEC economic zone to the province, while PTI has added motorways, power projects and the construction of the Chishma Right Bank Canal project to the framework, he added.
The chief minister said that PM Imran would inaugurate the Rashakai Economic Zone on November 21st. CM Mehmood said that Pakhtunkhwa Electric Company (PEDO) has initiated several power projects, the completion of which would ensure the provision of cheap electricity to local industries.
Meanwhile, the participants of the panel discussions demanded the government to include women businesses in the China-funded project.
They highlighted that women-centric projects covered not even 15 percent of the CPEC framework, which meant that the government was ignoring more than half of the country’s population.
