The article is pretty shoddy, to be honest.
90% of all the income/benefits generated by CPEC will be indirect instead of direct. The direct benefits would be the construction of roads, power-generation projects and industrial zones of which the first two, in GB's context, will be immense! I'll explain this in a bit. The indirect benefits will be the resulting demand of services generated by the trade; dry-ports, logistics services, trade fees, etc, etc. In case of GB there would be another massive benefit which is the opening up of the Chinese market, in particular, and the world, in general, for the goods produced locally, as is mentioned in the article. This will not only allow the locals to sell their produce for a lot more profit but will also incubate the existing cottage industry there and will lay the seeds for a small to medium specialized industrial base (gems, gems, gems!). Large scale industrialization of GB is near impossible given the sheer costs of bringing in the raw materials, it's economics 101. So realistically, we cannot hope for the government to establish any large industrial zones in the region à la KPK, Sindh, Balochistan or Punjab.
The three most major issues in GB's economic prosperity are 1) Accessibility, 2) Accessibility and 3) Accessibility. CPEC will provide exactly that. Until the WOT, the regions economy has overwhelmingly relied on tourism, that too when only a fraction of its true potential was being exploited. The simple fact of the KKH being expanded and maintained as a true highway added to the increase in stability in the country will bring tons of tourism to the region. The turn around in Hushe Valley's economic situation after the construction of a measly jeep track is a very good case study of what miracles tourism can bring. Tourism can also ravage the areas like it has in Naran after the road was built in 2005-2007, however the onus of that is completely on the locals depending on how they decide to manage it.
As far as the energy projects are concerned I believe the Basha Dam is the largest energy project planned under CPEC. The fact of the matter is that until now Pakistan had no money to build it. Our attempts of getting IMF, the World Bank and the ADB funding for it have resulted in not due to the disputed nature of the region. Given the beyond urgent nature of our energy needs/deficit we were only left with the option of importing coal power plants. It is stupid to suggest that we should have waited 10 more years for the dams to be built while our economy crippled under the exponentially increasing energy deficit. The import of electricity from Tajikistan is not Pakistan's idea. The IMF has been trying to muscle us into it since at least 10 years, Pakistan has been trying to avoid it.
Every thing said under the "Demographic shift" subheading is just ludicrous.....How is the land going to be swallowed by the investors? Given the fact that only locals can own land in the region, the investors will be subservient to the locals! Apart from the fact that the injection of "rich investors" will create vocational opportunities much better than the sub-optimal agriculture and livestock rearing in practice there. Also, the local investors will be much better poised to compete with foreign investors since the locals are tax-exempt while the non-locals and foreigners will be paying hefty amounts of it, I can't even explain how gargantuous-ly beneficial this will be for the locals. Even the massively rich non-local investors will eventually have to enter patronage agreements with the locals, something like that in the Middle East. The locals will be earning money just by being born there. What is this author even talking about?
In short, just by the virtue of the trade route passing through the region, GB will automatically gain immense economic benefits.
Last but not least, that mountain in the picture is
NOT Nangaprabat........
@Anchan , stop giving all the balme to the center or Punjab. What has the leadership of GB done in last 67 years, have they ever raised concerns of GB to the center? they have done nothing, blame yourself before blaming others. We are to blame for not raising our concerns properly, and we still aren't. What is the legislative assembly doing? are they not our representatives? stop blaming others.
And id on't want to see you trolling anymore, i will be much harsh on you compared to others. GB will benefit the most after Balochistan as far as CPEC is concerned. CPEC will bring direct investment to GB and is already. More on how it will be good for locals GB, understand how SEZ will benefit GB, read it and understand it as to how CPEC will benefit CPEC.
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: A boon for the economy, a bane for locals - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
@krash ...
@EAK ,
@Talwar e Pakistan ,i have given him a reply. He doesn't know what he is talking about.
Not to mention the fact that every thing in GB is government subsidized, that too when the whole region is exempt from taxes. Where provincially generated funds are available to invest in the other provinces GB is left solely dependant on direct federal investment which itself has a plethora of issues surrounding it, I won't go into those right now. Last time I checked, fuel would cost 5 times more (given the transportation costs) than it does right now had the government not subsidized it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what would be the result of removing just this single subsidy. Could the centre have done more? Of course, lots more. However, given Pakistan's crummy political and economic history it would have required massive economic incentives. Praise the Heavens, the Chinese have provided the incentive to finally change the future of the region.
ps: I would've loved to answer @Anchan's post point by point.