Reema Shaukat<\/p>\n
China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) a de\u00adcade ago to finance infra\u00adstructure around the world, particularly in develop\u00ading countries, with esti\u00admates of $1 trillion or more invested across 152 countries. China Pakistan Economic Cor\u00adridor (CPEC) became flagship project of BRI; aimed at developing infra\u00adstructure across whole swath of the country. But it is not the infra\u00adstructure alone that CPEC has fo\u00adcused on, there have been many spinoffs that the project has gen\u00aderated which have been the actual profit for Pakistan.
\nBesides infrastructure develop\u00adment, the socio-economic growth prong of the CPEC is of pivotal na\u00adture which has not only helped in betterment of Pakistani public but has also been a driving force to bring the people from both countries closer. For instance, the collaboration in the field of edu\u00adcation especially in Khyber Pak\u00adhtunkhwa is noteworthy. There have been several Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) between the Pakistani educational institu\u00adtions and their Chinese counter\u00adparts which have enabled the stu\u00addents more from Pakistani side to seek advanced and modern edu\u00adcation through Chinese cooper\u00adation. Cultural cooperation and people-to-people connections are surmounting the barriers if any, while media collaboration is in\u00adcreasing at a fast pace which will be more obvious in days to come.
\nThe establishment of factories and industries for instance, in the Rashakai Economic Zone and the creation of special econom\u00adic zones at Rashakai, Dhabeji, Al\u00adlama Iqbal Industrial City in Fais\u00adalabad and Bostan at Pishin, to attract domestic and internation\u00adal investors is hallmark of CPEC spinoffs. If guided through well charted policies, this arrange\u00adment will certainly ensure inves\u00adtor confidence in Pakistani mar\u00adkets. The local employment and businesses that such measures are likely to give birth are expect\u00aded to be astounding.
\nThe first decade of BRI was fo\u00adcused on the construction of bridges, ports, highways and en\u00adergy sources, primarily fossil fuel driven, which ensured Chinese fi\u00adnancing of almost 21,000 projects across 165 countries with finan\u00adcial outlay around $80bn a year. It is estimated that 80 percent of China\u2019s overseas lending is cur\u00adrently supporting countries in fi\u00adnancial distress. But now China has come up with another unique initiative to further the goodwill that BRI inherently carries.
\nAt the 2021 UNGA meet, China announced halting construction of new coal plants abroad and in\u00adstead would step up investment in renewable energy with a sum of $10bn. It was reiterated by Pres\u00adident Xi Jinping at the latest BRI summit in October 2023. There is little doubt that the BRI host coun\u00adtries, desperately need renewable energy investment i.e. six or seven fold increase in annual clean ener\u00adgy investment say from $260 bil\u00adlion in year 2022 to $1.9trillion by the early 2030s to meet global climate targets. Moreso, for Paki\u00adstan because of its weak economic health, climate hazards and pow\u00ader shortages. Whereas Pakistan necessitates shifting to alternate energy sources its less fiscal space hinders investment for climate spending thus constricting sup\u00adport for policies that can facilitate climate investing. The good news is that CPEC has been termed as the pilot project in Green BRI. It is no misnomer that since year 2012, Pakistan has received sin\u00adgle largest foreign development financing from China, outspend\u00ading the US by 1.6 times in year 2013, 7.7 times in year 2016 and 22.4 times in year 2021. Pakistan can benefit from the Green CPEC initiative making use of Chinese investment.
\nIt is a fact that the CPEC proj\u00adects have not only enthused eco\u00adnomic growth in the country but have also improved the lives and the livelihood of Pakistani citi\u00adzens. Also, enhancing regional connectivity is one great aspect of the overall initiative. A cli\u00admate-driven CPEC may become the \u201cbiggest green opportunity\u201d of the next decade of BRI. China seems to be empathetic to the de\u00adveloping countries who are vying for collaborative climate and de\u00advelopment partners. Pakistan is one fortunate country to have re\u00adceived this attention from China in the form of CPEC.
\nHowever, this is not that simple as lot has to be done on our part to understand and execute this con\u00adcept. The environment friendly energy sources are expensive and it will not be easy for our indus\u00adtry to convert without incentives offered after overhauled financial and regulatory mechanisms. The grid system for electricity distri\u00adbution in the country is age old and requires to be made compati\u00adble with the environment friendly power plants. There is also dearth of expertise, technical proficien\u00adcy and policy formulation on the subject. The cities are over popu\u00adlated, unclean and without prop\u00ader garbage disposal mechanism. Recycling culture is also in its in\u00adfancy in Pakistan. Due to owing to price hike in fuel significant rise in tree cutting and use of wood for fuel has been witnessed recently. All in all, a whole of government approach is but compulsory to develop a complete eco system around the concept so that tangi\u00adble benefits are reaped.<\/p>\n
Courtesy
\nThere is no denying the fact that CPEC has brought good tid\u00adings for Pakistan. It is not only related to infrastructural devel\u00adopment but also the socio-eco\u00adnomic development through human resource development and employment opportunities. Green BRI or CPEC is yet anoth\u00ader important milestone that Pak\u00adistan seriously needs. The ben\u00adefits springing out of CPEC, we need to make it a profiting bond between Pakistan and China. It is up to us how much dividends can we extract to our advantage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reema Shaukat China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) a de\u00adcade ago to finance infra\u00adstructure around the world, particularly in develop\u00ading countries, with esti\u00admates of $1 trillion or more invested across 152 countries. China Pakistan Economic Cor\u00adridor (CPEC) became flagship project of BRI; aimed at developing infra\u00adstructure across whole swath of the country. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13267],"class_list":{"0":"post-387942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-reema-shaukat"},"yoast_head":"\n