ISLAMABAD – The unresponsiveness of the provinces is delaying the process of finalising Term of Reference (ToRs) for the deployment of Special Security Division (SSD) for the security of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
“The Ministry of Interior has contacted all the provinces but except Punjab none of the provinces has so far replied the request to finalise the ToRs,” an official told The Nation yesterday.
The meeting on CPEC review held here last week was presided over by the Federal Minister for Planning Development and Reforms. The main agenda of the meeting was the security of the project, the official said.
The SSD will be working under certain ToRs, the official said. Since the security of the project is the responsibility of both federal and provincial governments, therefore, the provinces’ input is required for the finalisation of the ToRs, the official explained.
Now the issue of ToRs will be brought to the meeting of steering committee on CPEC, he said and added that the minister would request the prime minister to convene the meeting of the steering committee on CPEC for resolving the issue.
The steering committee is headed by the prime minister and all the provincial chief ministers are its members.
The government has already raised a Special Security Division (SSD) that consists 13800 security personal to ensure the security of Chinese workers. To fund the security measures of CPEC, an additional one percent will be added to the total cost of the projects being implemented under the umbrella of the corridor. The 2500-km long, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will connect the Gawadar Port, in Pakistan, to northwestern Xinjiang province, in China. Even Punjab’s reply is not very much clear on the issue of ToRs, an official of the interior ministry said while briefing the meeting on the progress review of the CPEC.
A source privy to the meeting said that in the beginning of the meeting Ahsan Iqbal was angry over the absence of the interior ministry’s official from the crucial security meeting and as a protest he left the meeting. But later after the arrival of interior ministry’s official he rejoined the meeting, the official said.
The minister directed the interior ministry to establish a security dedicated cell, in the ministry, to work as liaison between provinces and centre and various security agencies on security matters, the official said.
Regarding confusion faced to the investors on custom duties on various imported equipment the minister directed the FBR to establish a Green Channel Cell to facilitate the CPEC investors. He also directed all the ministries for the establishment of a response centre in their respective ministries to facilitate companies and media regarding the CPEC projects.
The minister asked the ministries that no delay will be tolerated in CPEC related projects. In the meeting NHA has come up with their projects and was briefing in parts about various projects but the minister told them to bring complete work plan in next meeting and tell exactly about the progress and completion time of all the ongoing projects.
http://nation.com.pk/national/16-Sep-2016/provinces-indifference-delaying-cpec-security-tors
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