FO denies China has halted payments for CPEC projects

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FO denies China has halted payments for CPEC projects
Naveed SiddiquiDecember 14, 2017
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The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday rubbished reports that Beijing had halted payments on any of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in the country.

FO Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal, during a weekly briefing, said there was no news from Beijing that the Chinese government was halting funding for any of the projects, adding that execution of payments takes place in specific manner.

The FO's denial comes days after Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal had said that China had halted the release of funds for three CPEC projects till the revision of its 'financial mechanism' by Beijing,

Explore: Work on three CPEC projects halted till China’s approval, says planning minister

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According to an official press release issued by National Assembly Secretariat on December 11, Iqbal informed the 25th parliamentary committee meeting on CPEC that the Chinese side was reviewing the financial mechanism of these projects and work on them would restart after receiving approval from Beijing.

Iqbal could not convince the committee members as to why the Chinese government had opted for a new financial mechanism and scrapped the previous one which was agreed upon by both countries.

It was also reported that China had temporarily stopped funding some projects, particularly those related to the road network under CPEC, till a further decision on ‘new guidelines’ by Beijing.

When contacted at the time, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar, who is also a member of the parliamentary committee, had said that he had raised the issue of suspension of Chinese funds at the meeting, which was chaired by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed.

The members, he had said, were informed that China was revising the infrastructure projects under its "financial review".

Another member of the committee, Al-Haj Gul Khan Afridi, had said they were told that China had not stopped financing the CPEC projects but raised some 'technical objections' to three National Highways Authority (NHA) road projects. A team of Chinese experts would arrive in the country soon to inspect the three NHA projects, he added.

However, a senior NHA official rejected the government claim that work on the three road projects of the authority had been halted on technical grounds.

“It is not true that China raised objections to the projects because these had already been approved at the 6th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting held last year,” he had told Dawn at the time.

 

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dawn is a national disgrace.

 

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dawn is a national disgrace.

He never try to show good face of country.

 

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Dawn should have been banned but it is the mouthpiece of PMLn used for propaganda against the state of Pakistan, Pakistan army, China-Pak relations and the religion.

 

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VOA is funded by CIA.

 

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China rules out halting of funds for CPEC

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15 HOURS AGO BY MIAN ABRAR

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ISLAMABAD: China has ruled out any possibility of abandoning funding for any of the projects related to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) confirming that all long and short-term projects would continue within a stipulated timeframe.

The CPEC is intended to rapidly modernise Pakistan’s infrastructure and strengthen its economy by the construction of modern transportation networks, numerous energy projects, and special economic zones.

Rubbishing reports on Thursday that Beijing had halted payments on any of the CPEC projects in the country, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal, during a weekly briefing, said that there was no news from Beijing that the Chinese government was halting funding for any of the projects. He added that the execution of payments takes place in a specific manner.

The FO’s denial comes days after Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal had said that China had halted, for the time being, the release of funds for three CPEC projects till the revision of its ‘financial mechanism’.

In an exclusive talk with Pakistan Today, a senior Chinese official said that the review has nothing to do with the concerns about political or security environment in Pakistan, and rather it is a routine feature for the overall improvement of the CPEC projects. The official added that during the recently held sitting of Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC), Pakistan and China had mutually agreed to review the funding mechanism for three smaller projects.

“Pakistan and China have mutually agreed to explore ways and means to establish new funding mechanisms for projects to be included in CPEC, while funding for rest of the projects already falling under the CPEC remains unchanged,” the official said. He added that the review projects included 210-km Dera Ismail Khan-Zhob artery, 110-km Khuzdar-Basima road and expansion of 136-km Raikot-Thakot Karakorum Highway (KKH).

“The new mechanism being worked on is a more professional arrangement, so there is nothing to fear about it. If anything, it will decrease rather than increase the interest rate,” the official said.

“Review of ongoing projects is a normal and routine feature under the CPEC. Pakistan and China keep studying the progress of CPEC projects and adjustments are made accordingly to improve effective implementation of the projects.”

The source said that till date, China had invested $18.7 billion in various CPEC projects which fall under early harvest stage. Further elaborating, the official said that the Chinese government offers concessional loans to companies involved with the CPEC.

“These loans fall into three categories. Loans offered to Pakistan government carry one to two per cent interest rate. Most of these loans are mostly for projects in the infrastructure sector,” he said and added that China also offers non-reimbursable assistance to some CPEC projects which are not a burden on Pakistani nationals.

“For power generation projects which use the commercial loan, there is less than five per cent interest. On the contrary, some international banks offer such loans on very high-interest rate,” the official concluded.