China halts CPEC,blocks funds to Pakistan

Islamabad Dec 12: In a major development China has halted the Pakistan from constructing the CPEC Project by blocking the funds over the corruption issues and has asked the Pak to come clean in this project.

Pakistan's Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has said that " Beijing has stopped funding the projects till such time as the revision of its 'financial mechanism' is done by Beijing."Minister has added that " he has informed the 25th parliamentary committee on the CPEC on this."

Sources said that blockage of funds would affect over Rs.1 trillion worth of road projects undertaken by the National Highway Authority (NHA). These include 210-km Dera Ismail Khan-Zhob Road (estimated cost of Rs 81 billion), the 110-km Khuzdar-Basima Road project (estimated cost Rs. 19.76 billion) and the 136-km remaining portion of Karakarom Highway (KKH) from Raikot to Thakot (estimated cost Rs. 8.5 billion).

china-Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC is an infrastructure projected under which infrastructure in both the countries would be improved and this project is being taken up under the initiative of Belt and Road project constructed by China.