PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has asked the federal government to include four more road and railway projects of the province in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as its components.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has written a letter to Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, asking him to acknowledge his commitment to this effect in writing through a letter.

Through the letter dated March 4, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the chief minister has urged the federal government to include construction of a circular railway line from Peshawar to Nowshera, Mardan and Charsadda and back to Peshawar in CPEC.

Khattak writes to Ahsan Iqbal to seek written assurances about western route

Other projects include western railway track from Dera Ismail Khan to Peshawar, motorway from Dera Ismail Khan to Peshawar and motorway from Karak to Taxila via Jhand-Kohat.

Mr Khattak has also proposed to formally associate a representative of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government with CPEC Secretariat, Islamabad, on full-time basis. The letter also says that members of the provincial government will be included in the joint working groups, joint coordination committees and committees on energy, industry, and transport and any other committee of the CPEC from now onwards.

It said that the ground-breaking ceremony of the western route of CPEC would take place on July 18, 2016 and the Planning Commission would assure and communicate in writing about the funds availability and their allocation along fixed timelines for the western corridor and its allied facilities.

It notes that both sides had in their meeting on Feb 15 agreed on establishing eight industrial parks on the western route. These parks will be set up at Battagram, Mansehra, Haripur, Karnal Sher Khan Interchange on motorway, Malakand-Chakdarra interchange, Swat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan.

The provincial government will provide commercial feasibility of the industrial parks in due course of time.

The Planning Commission would initiate action to ensure that all requisite amenities like electricity, gas, phone lines, fiber optics, railway line and other relevant services will be provided by the federal government as soon as land is made available for these industrial parks.

The provincial government will provide land for the establishment of industrial parks, which will be included in the economic, transport and social sector policies as per CPEC components.

The letter notes that it will be extremely pertinent (for the centre) to reiterate and acknowledge its commitments through a letter in order to dispel misconceptions about the western corridor.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2016