According to the CPEC Authority, the progress review of the projects revealed that all the schemes having socio-economic benefits for Gwadar – considered as the crown jewel of CPEC – were falling behind their original completion schedules. The CPEC Authority, which Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal wants to wrap up, gave the status update report to the new government last month. So far, only three schemes have been declared completed by the CPEC Authority, including $4 million Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan, which cannot be called a project. The Gwadar Airport and Gwadar Hospital projects had faced problems in importing certain steel materials which attracted anti-dumping duties. The $285 million scheme for the Infrastructure of Gwadar Free Zone Phase-II was only 3% complete, according to the CPEC Authority.

Source: The Express Tribune May 09, 2022 00:48 UTC