China Pakistan economic corridor: Pakistan development & disaster risk management perspective

Pakistan has a diversified blend of geography from the highest mountains of the world to the deepest coastal areas, deserts, forests, and plains. Pakistan is bordered with Afghanistan to the North-West, Iran to the West, China to the North and India to the East; putting Pakistan in the midst of one of the most controversial regional frontiers of the world. Its western borders include the Khyber Pass and Bolan Pass has served for centuries as traditional migration routes between Central Eurasia and South Asia. Furthermore, being the only Muslim nuclear state in the world which still has not accepted Israel in its solidarity with the State of Palestine and its people; and more recently has gone into an uncomforting relationship with GCC countries over Yemen; does not make things easy for Pakistan and its citizens.

Despite all the media negativity, 120 million people of Pakistan remain the most significant asset of the Pakistan and they are considering year 2015 to be game changing year for them after decades of deprivation. On one hand people of Pakistan are witnessing a firm commitment of Pakistani Politicians, Judiciary, Media, and most importantly Pakistan Military leadership against all sort of corruption and terrorism; while on the other hand Chinese Government’s 46 billion dollars investment plan. According to government officials this investment is more than twice the amount of all FDI Pakistan has received since 2008. When compared with USAID; Pakistan’s largest donor it is also considerably higher than the total assistance from the United States since 2002.

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will largely center on Gwadar in Pakistan to Kashgar in the Chinese region of Xinjiang strengthening and enhancing the transportation and energy infrastructure of Pakistan during phase-1. Due to a strong G2G commitment most of projects are already well underway and will reach completion between one to three years while some long-term infrastructure projects could take from 10 to 15 years.

CPEC will certainly be a success both in short and long-term despite many regional and international observations. Pakistan will finally gain the much needed economic boost that it requires. However, while making rapid significant progress in developmental projects, it can expose Pakistan’s natural resources and its people to new socio-economic, geo-political, and environmental and climatic vulnerabilities. Therefore, CPEC has a direct linkage with the Disaster Risk Management in Pakistan.

It is worth mentioning that due to the very nature of the CPEC projects and geography of Pakistan; most of the project come under natural hazard prone area. Some of such project include Hubco Coal Fire Power Plant, Havelian Dry Port, Thakot Havelian Section and Hydro Electric Sukki Kanari are located near the fault line. Muzaffargarh 1320 Megawatt Coal Project, Karachi-Lahore Motorway, and Wind Power Projects of Sindh are near the Indus reviver which is flooded on regular basis. In addition, future flux of people from remote areas of Pakistan to CPEC impacted area would also create new DRM, Safety, and Security scenarios and deserve a careful planning well in advance.

Alhasan Systems presents attached map titled “China Pakistan Economic Corridor - Pakistan Development & Disaster Risk Management Perspective”. This map shall prove to be an asset for all researchers, politicians, decision maker, legal experts, and DRM and Development professionals alike. Map is compiled through the hi-tech analysis of a huge wealth of baseline geo-referenced data, most up-to-date CPEC projects progress, natural historic databases of Pakistan; and NATO/ China transport/ trade route global impact.

This is a picture which is indeed worth a billion words!