According to the Daily Times, the Punjab government approved the allotment of 1.5 million acres of government land to Chinese enterprises on Thursday as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
A list of government lands in Punjab’s several districts, including Lahore, has been compiled.
For the time being, the majority of government land will be given to Chinese investors for a period of 20 years in exchange for official rates. As a result, the original approval of the Standing Committee on Law has been granted. The CPEC intends to boost revenue by leveraging government land, according to the Standing Committee on Law.
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How China’s projects will help Pakistan’s economy?
According to official papers, the Punjab government would seek assistance from China as part of the CPEC project to improve the production of its numerous departments and non-cultivated government lands.
The multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), announced in 2015, was aimed at overhauling Pakistan’s crumbling infrastructure and linking the nation’s southern port of Gwadar to western China.
The ambitious project, part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative, was originally estimated to bring in $46 billion (€38.7 billion) of investment into Pakistan. But it’s now estimated to have increased to about $65 billion.
During the first phase of CPEC, dozens of projects, mainly related to power and transport infrastructure, were carried out with the help of Chinese money.
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An opportunity for all
The second phase of the initiative, which began last December and comprises 27 projects, has focused on boosting manufacturing capacity and job creation.
And Beijing has been pumping money not only to Pakistan’s economic hubs but also to places like Pakistan-administered Kashmir and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Many Pakistanis remain euphoric about the growing Chinese investment in the country, arguing that it’s needed to pull Pakistan out of a severe ongoing economic crisis.
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