The CPEC will open doors to immense economic opportunities not only to Pakistan but will physically connect China to its markets in Asia, Europe and beyond. Oil from the Middle East could be offloaded at Gwadar and transported to China through the corridor, cutting the current 12,000 km journey to 2,395 km.
As Pakistan enters the second phase of CPEC which is one of the largest investment projects under way anywhere in the world, the economic impact of CPEC is seen as potentially so game-changing, that it cannot be ignored. In best-case estimates, in fact, it is believed that Chinese investment can potentially increase high in Pakistan’s GDP by 2030. Pakistan’s ability to generate employability under CPEC initiatives has been the capacity of our human resources. CPEC has so far created nearly 68,382 direct jobs, according to the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Committee Meeting on June 13, 2019 CPEC has the potential to further generate anywhere from 800,000 to 1,500,000 jobs till 2030.
Pakistan’s energy bottlenecks have been removed by CPEC power projects and manage transportation infrastructure. Before CPEC, Pakistan was going through the worst load on power management. Pakistan managed to address these major issues with the help of the first phase of CPEC, which is now entering the second phase.
Second phase is all about industrial cooperation, development of agriculture and trade; therefore, its needs and demands are entirely different from the first phase.
China is also emerging as one of the major importers of food products. Pakistan can also benefit from the Chinese market. The country needs the best supply chain, certification of products and maintenance of hygiene standards so as to exploit the market. Pakistan can easily capture Halal Food $5-6-billion market.
ML-I is a very important project under CPEC portfolio as under it 1,059km railway line is to be laid from Havelian in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Kashghar in Chinese province of Xinjiang. Plan of connecting Pakistan’s railway network from China and Afghanistan to Gwadar deep sea port under CPEC has been declared strategically important by both Pakistan and China will help commercially viable transportation of goods from China and Central Asian States to the port city, besides boosting trade and tourism activities in the country.
Now, as CPEC drives into the next phase, Prime Minister Imran directed authorities to accelerate work projects of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The government is planning to upgrade and enhance capacity of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutes across the country by transferring state of the art Chinese technology to meet China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) skilled workforce required for its second phase.
The cities in which the TVET institutes are planned to be upgraded include Bahawalpur, Jhelum, Mansehra, Dera Ismail Khan, Gwadar, Lasbela, Larkana, Hyderabad, Giglit, and Mirpur. The institutes would be equipped with modern apparatus and smart laboratories, besides advanced level 5 of curricula would also be adopted in the institutes. Local institutes would be affiliated with the best Chinese TVET training institutes and students and trainers exchange and capacity building programme would also be launched under the project.
CPEC’s second phase can put Pakistan’s economy back on track. The 2nd phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor provides a good opportunity to engage the private sector and business community to develop joint ventures in this sector.
Completion of major infrastructure and energy projects, the first phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Phase 2 projects, which include setting up special economic zones and industrial estates. The initial time-table called for the zones to be up and running by 2020.
Pakistan is to create an environment which encourages the lead role of the private sector. CPEC is beneficial for Pakistan, since we need investment for economic growth and stability. But in comparison, I think China will benefit much more than Pakistan.