Local people should be engaged in CPEC and development process in Balochistan: CPEC Parliamentary Committee chief

Quetta: Chairman of the Pakistani Parliamentary Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Sher Ali Arbab has said that local people should be engaged in the CPEC and the development process of Balochistan.

Speaking at a seminar here, he mentioned that members of his committee were in favour of involving the people of Gwadar and other areas of Balochistan in the CPEC-related mega projects.

The seminar was organised on Sunday by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a non-profit German foundation, on the role of lawmakers in investment and promotion of CPEC-related industrialisation projects in Gwadar.

Arbab maintained that the main purpose of his visit to Balochistan was to review progress on CPEC-related development projects and get an input from different people and experts to boost investment in Gwadar.

He indicated that the people of Gwadar and Makran had apprehensions about the benefits of the CPEC-related projects which they fear could give advantage to other people rather than the locals.

“The people of Gwadar are facing some basic problems. These include shortage of drinking water, power outages and illegal fishing by foreign boats,” Arbab remarked.

He stressed that these issues must the resolved and the local people should be involved in the development process of Balochistan.

Arbab believed the other main issue was provision of security as without ensuring security no foreign investor would come to Balochistan to invest in the province and even investors from the country would flee.

In his speech, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri claimed the government was making serious efforts for developing Gwadar and other areas of Balochistan.

He shared that industrial zones were being established in Bostan and other areas which would help investors come to the area and invest in different economic sectors in the province.

Member of the Standing Committee on CPEC Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, on the occasion, complained that the people of some areas of Balochistan had been deprived of gas since 1952 when gas reserves were discovered in Sui.

Other speakers at the seminar called for taking the people of Balochistan and Gwadar into confidence for the success of Gwadar Port and CPEC-related projects in the province.