CPEC has made Balochistan province safer due to massive investments: PBF Balochistan chief

Quetta: Chairman Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) Balochistan Chapter Engineer Daroo Khan Achakzai has said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had made the Balochistan province safer due to massive investments.

In a statement issued here, he maintained that the policy makers in Pakistan’s federal capital Islamabad were now looking at Balochistan with an economic lens.

Achakzai mentioned that Balochistan was most the important component of CPEC as it was located at the eastern edge of Iran.

He stressed that Balochistan was geographically the largest of the four provinces with 347,190 sq kilometers and equated to 42 percent of the total land area of Pakistan.

The population density, he underlined, was very low due to the hilly territory and insufficiency of water and other human resources. The province has 26 districts with the approximate population of about 15 million, he added.

Achakzai contended that Balochistan was rich in natural resources and the economy was largely based on the production of natural gas, coal and minerals which significantly helped meet the energy needs of Pakistan.

“Limited farming in the east and fishing along the Arabian Sea coastline were other forms of income and sustenance for the poor and uneducated local population of the province,’ he stated.

Achakzai underscored that there had always been a security centric approach for Balochistan, but thanks to CPEC Balochistan was now being seen with an economic lens.

He acknowledged that Gwadar was central in CPEC and for the development of Balochistan. At the heart of regional connectivity, the port city would connect South Asia with Central Asia, China and middle East, he remarked.

Achakzai said the establishment of PBF was needed in Balochistan as there was a need of a non-political economic dialogue between the national and provincial stakeholders to seek resolution to the issues the Balochistan trade and industry face.

He also urged the government to establish Chaman as a focal area for the trade towards Central Asian countries.

He predicted that about two million people would move to Gwadar within a span of 30 years due to the Gwadar Port.

“Similarly, new residential areas, hotels, buildings, schools, hospitals and roads were indicative of modern trends. It was also expected to have a positive impact on the rest of the province, which had been neglected for a long time,” he underlined.

Achakzai emphasized that Gwadar Port was a mega project of CPEC and a vast amount of investment was anticipated in both its infrastructure and extensions.

The PBF Balochistan chairman further said that through CPEC, Pakistan’s position in the international arena would be more prominent especially when many regional and extra-regional countries join in the mega project.

“CPEC would improve Pakistan’s international stature, its contacts and create an aura of peace and stability in the region,” he observed.