Rs38bn cross-border optic fibre project under CPEC cleared

The Central Develo­pment Working Party (CDWP) on Wednesday cleared the second phase of a Rs38bn project for laying cross-border optic fibre cable with China.

According to the details, the CDWP has referred the project to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval in a meeting presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan.

According to a report by Dawn, the project, which is along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Khunjerab-Gwadar-Karachi route, will provide an alternate path for international connectivity through the country’s northern border with China and ensure continuous uninterrupted connectivity between Northern and Southern borders of the country by establishing multiple rings for secure and uninterrupted communication network etc.

Under the financial rules in vogue, the CDWP is empowered to itself approve projects costing no more than Rs10bn while projects of higher estimated costs are approved by Ecnec once the CDWP clears them on technical grounds.

The meeting also agreed 50:50 sharing of Covid-19 Responsive and Other Natural Calamities Control Programme with provinces. The project had already been cleared but financing shares remained unsettled. The federal share of the project would now be Rs70bn whereas AJK and GB will also be covered under the project financing.