The Cabinet Committee on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on Monday directed ministries to immediately get 116 acres of prime Gwadar land vacated, which was under the possession of law enforcement agencies and was hampering work on CPEC.
The delay in getting the land vacated has slowed down work on the Gwadar Free Zone and Gwadar Eastbay Expressway – the two projects that were very critical for the full functioning of Gwadar Port, showed official documents.
Headed by Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, the cabinet panel directed the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence to play their part in getting the land vacated. Under the Pak-China Gwadar Port agreement, the land has been leased out to Chinese companies. Asad Umar was not available for comments.
The CPEC committee said that the Ministry of Defence should issue directives to Pakistan Navy to vacate 72 acres of land. Similarly, the committee directed the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence to play their role in getting vacated another 44 acres of land, which was under the possession of Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG).
