ISLAMABAD: Pakistan renewed its request on Tuesday for China to consider funding the $6.8 billion Mainline-I (ML-I) project, the single largest China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project after the Railways Ministry revealed that Beijing was unwilling to support the program due to cost issues.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal proposed at a meeting with the Chinese Charge d’Affaires in Pakistan, Miss Pang Chunxue.
According to a ministry official, Miss Pang assured Iqbal that her government will evaluate the request to support the ML-I project during the review sessions.
The Ministry of Railways stated at the meeting that “the PC-I of the ML-I project was not possible due to costs not being acceptable to the Chinese side,” as shown by documents.
The ECNEC approved the building of the ML-1 project in three phases during its meeting in August 2020.
The project’s initial cost was $9 billion, including the Pakistani government’s equity contribution. However, it was progressively cut to $6.8 billion, which the Chinese side did not like.
After the previous fiscal year, Pakistan’s public debt had risen to 87.2 percent of GDP, and the nation was spending more than 60% of tax receipts on debt servicing.
The ML-I project, which comprises the dualization and upgrading of a 1,872-kilometer railway track from Peshawar to Karachi, is a major milestone for CPEC’s second phase, and its development has been delayed by more than four years.
During a meeting with Chinese Charge d’Affaires Pang Chunxue, the Minister stated, “My main goal is to expedite the CPEC projects to regain the confidence of Chinese investors.” During the meeting, the minister also stated that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has demanded that the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project be included in the CPEC.
The minister also encouraged the Chinese official to fix the problems facing Pakistani students in China. In this regard, 200 students have been granted visas to complete their studies in China. Similarly, the minister urged that Pakistan and China collaborate on space technology.
The minister mentioned Karachi’s water shortage and urged the Chinese official to help develop desalination facilities in the city to relieve the city’s shortage of safe drinking water.
According to a statement released by the Planning Ministry, Miss Pang pledged China’s full support for water-related initiatives.
