The authority, set up in 2019, was to be responsible for planning and co-ordination of activities under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The new Pakistan government has decided to abolish the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority, the country’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said, The Express Tribune reported on Thursday.
The authority was set up through an Ordinance in 2019 and the previous Imran Khan-led government had enacted the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority Act in May 2021. The government body was to be responsible for planning and co-ordinating all activities pertaining to the corridor.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a group of infrastructure projects being built between China’s Xinjiang province and the Gwadar port in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. The corridor includes a network of railway tracks, roads, pipelines and optical cable fibres, as also energy-related projects.
The decision to abolish the authority was in line with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s policy that opposed a parallel setup to carry out projects under the corridor, according to PTI.
On Thursday, Iqbal said that the ministry will seek Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s approval to wind up the authority.
“It is a redundant organisation with a huge waste of resources.
