KARACHI: Pakistan expects the demand for skilled manpower to grow exponentially as the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project expands.
“The total cost of CPEC projects has already gone from $46 billion to $62 billion and it is hoped that the total cost will rise to $100 billion by 2030,” Executive Director of the Planning Commission’s Center of Excellence (COE) for CPEC Dr. Shahid Rashid said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Many Pakistani institutes are now offering a range of courses — including Chinese-language — to enable Pakistani youths to find employment, and China has vowed to help set up a world-class vocational training institute in Islamabad. More institutes are expected to open in Pakistan in the near future to cover the expected rise in job opportunities offered by CPEC.
CPEC starts from Kashgar in Xinjiang, China, and reaches Karachi and Gwadar, on Pakistan’s south coast via the Khunjerab Pass.
Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing reiterated during a meeting with Executive Director of National Vocational and Technical Training Commission Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema that CPEC will provide job opportunities to thousands of trained Pakistanis.
Jing vowed that China will soon initiate special programs for Pakistani trainers, which will enable them to teach hundreds of Pakistani workers every year how to use modern machinery and equipment.
Majyed Aziz Balagamwala, president of the Employers’ Federation of Pakistan and a member of the Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority, told Arab News that a training program “initiated with leading institutes” would produce 200,000 skilled workers in the next three years.
“We do not intend to just produce labor, our aim is to provide them with multiple skills so that they can get better jobs and play their role in the country’s economic uplift by contributing to CPEC,” he explained.
Analyst and CPEC expert Maqbool Afridi stressed the need to expand the skills of Pakistani workers.
“Chinese workers are highly technical. We need to change our attitude toward learning,” Afridi said. “If the Chinese can work with high tech knowledge, why can’t we?”
Afridi said CPEC is a world-class project that demands technically skilled manpower not only to run the projects, but also to balance the share of jobs between the two countries.
Despite substantial progress on CPEC, many are unhappy about how little information about the project has been shared with the public.
“We still don’t know much about the CPEC projects,” said Executive Director of National Organization for Working Communities Farhat Parveen. “The government has been secretive, instead of sharing information about the projects and the number of people required so that skilled workers are imparted with the required training.”
Pakistan looks to increase share of CPEC labor market
Pakistan looks to increase share of CPEC labor market
Pakistan police tighten New Year’s Eve security in capital, warn of jail time for aerial firing
- More than 350 traffic policemen have been deployed to ensure public safety and smooth traffic flow
- New Year celebrations in Pakistan witness heightened security to prevent one-wheeling, rash driving
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s capital police warned on Wednesday anyone engaging in aerial firing on New Year’s Eve in Islamabad could face jail time, as authorities deployed more than 350 traffic officers to ensure public safety and smooth traffic flow.
Around eight special traffic squads have been formed to curb one-wheeling and rash driving, according to Pakistani state media. The report quoted an Islamabad traffic police spokesperson urging parents to prevent minors from underage driving.
New Year’s Eve in Pakistan sees heightened security in major cities such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, with authorities increasing police presence to control incidents like aerial firing that have caused deaths in the past.
“Whoever fires in the air will go straight to jail,” said the law enforcement department in a post on X. “Islamabad Police will take strict action against those who fire in the air.”
The post said the police were “determined to ensure security and traffic flow on the occasion of the New Year.”
“One-wheeling is a crime that inevitably results in lifelong disability or loss of precious lives,” it added.
According to a report by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), heavy vehicles will be barred from entering Islamabad between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. It added that parking on roads will be prohibited, and police will remain on duty throughout the night.
Aerial firing is a common but dangerous practice in Pakistan during celebrations, and it has caused several fatalities in the past.
More than 20 people including two women were injured in multiple incidents of aerial firing in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on the last New Year’s Eve.
According to data compiled by Karachi Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed, 19 people were injured due to aerial firing in 2020, 11 in 2021, 20 in 2022, 40 in 2023 and 26 in 2024.
