Skip to main content

New body proposed to maximise CPEC’s potential

ISLAMABAD: Sherry Rehman, chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, (CPEC) on Monday proposed forming a ‘CPEC authority’ to take advantage of opportunities offered by the huge project.

Speaking at the Senate CPEC Committee and National Defence University’s workshop on the lessons of developing a multi-partisan support for CPEC, Ms Rehman said, “We must take ownership of planning and ensure the trickle-down benefits permeate across all provinces”.

She said this could only be achieved if a CPEC authority which is either a part of the planning ministry or exists as an autonomous body is put into action. “It must be made very clear that the challenge to maximising CPEC gains is from Pakistan not China.”

The former federal minister underlined the need to focus on four Cs to maximise CPEC’s potential: consensus, coordination, capacity and clarity.

She said at the moment there appeared to be a lack of federal capacity to manage policy frameworks and execute the complex set of contractual structures needed for different types of investment models being utilised under CPEC platforms.

A crucial factor that requires attention and is often neglected is the environmental aspect of CPEC, she said. “While President Xi Jinping has ensured that the Belt and Road Initiative would be ‘green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable’, Pakistan, being the world’s seventh most climate impacted country, must start prioritising green energy development initiatives and build climate resilience, especially since infrastructural and industrial growth takes away chunks of green acres and expose us to more air and marine pollution.”

She also said there was a clear lack of coordination between government agencies and financing methods with provinces as well as private-sector facilitation. “Confusion in communicating the ministry’s plans are common, and offer few tangible incentives for businesses to build projects that invest in training human capital.”

The CPEC Committee in Senate Chairperson also said, “A higher commitment to transparency, pertaining to coordination and contracts will assist CPEC advocates in Pakistan to identify gaps in both planning and investment roadmaps, whether it be between provinces within Pakistan, or between federal ministries or as joint venture projects.”

“President Xi has prioritised transparency but unfortunately, our government has not. Right now, there seems to be a lack of clarity in priorities and the sharing of contractual terms,” continued Rehman.

The Vice-President of Pakistan Peoples Party further said, “Despite all this the consensus on realising the potential of this huge opportunity is clear in all parties and provinces. The government is unable to exercise its function of convening meetings to maintain the consensus in the midst of course corrections on priorities and sectors.”

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2019



from The Dawn News - Home http://bit.ly/2PEYJ0Y
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says he urged team to ‘slow’ COVID-19 testing

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, arguing that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered. The president has claimed falsely on several occasions that surges of COVID-19 in several states can be explained by greater numbers of diagnostic tests. At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword.” The United States — which has more deaths and cases than any other country — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita. “Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued. “So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” It was not clear from Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more

IT ministry forms panel to review social media rules

ISLAMABAD: While uproar against the new rules to regulate social media continues from various segments of society, including parliamentarians, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and civil society, the information technology ministry on Friday formed a committee to review the rules. The federal cabinet approved the rules on Feb 11, but later after opposition from various quarters, including companies that manage different social media platforms, the prime minister announced that a fresh consultation process would be launched over the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020. The committee formed by the IT ministry is headed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa while its members are Eazaz Aslam Dar, additional secretary of IT; Tania Aidrus, member of the Strategic Reforms Imple­mentation Unit, Prime Minister Office; and Dr Arslan Khalid, focal person on digital media at the PM Office. Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

IS confirms Baghdadi’s death, vows revenge

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.—AP BEIRUT: The Islamic State militant group confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a statement on Thursday and named his replacement as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi. “We mourn you ... commander of the faithful,” said Abu Hamza al-Quraishi — presented as the group’s new spokesman — in an audio statement. Baghdadi, who led IS since 2014 and was the world’s most wanted man, was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria’s province of Idlib on Sunday. The group also confirmed the killing in another raid the following day of the group’s previous spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir. The statement said the group’s legislative and consultative body convened after the 48-year-old Iraqi-born jihadist chief’s death. “The Islamic State shura council convened immediately after confirming the martyrdom of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the elders of the holy warriors agreed” on a replacement, said the seven-minute message. Little is known abou...
Post a Comment
Read more