Pakistan, China agree to form consortium to finance USD 7 bn railway project under CPEC

Islamabad: Pakistan and China have agreed to form a consortium of bilateral and multilateral partners to finance a USD 7 billion railway project, along with a four-year action plan (2025-29) for the second phase of the CPEC initiative.

Pakistan and China recently launched the second phase of the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Speaking at a news conference, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent visit to China, the two sides had agreed to constitute a consortium of financiers, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), China and Pakistan, for the 1,700-km Karachi-Peshawar railway line, the Dawn newspaper reported on Tuesday.

He said China had assured financing not only for the rail project but also for the Karakoram Highway.

Negotiations with multiple financiers would be concluded within a month, Iqbal said.

The minister said Pakistan and China have agreed to develop and implement a four-year action plan to build, between 2025 and 2029, a “China-Pakistan community with a shared future” with stronger political trust, closer trade ties, deeper security cooperation and stronger people-to-people links.

The plan includes aligning the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with Pakistan’s 5Es Framework, implementing both large-scale landmark projects and “small and beautiful” livelihood projects, while ensuring both high-quality development and robust security, the Dawn reported.

India opposes the CPEC, which will link Xinjiang in China and the Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan, as it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The CPEC is the flagship project of China’s ambitious multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The BRI is seen as an attempt by Beijing to further its influence abroad with infrastructure projects funded by Chinese investments all over the world.