Pakistan dismisses claims that CPEC aggravates debt burden

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Thursday dismissed reports that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was making the country suffer from further debt woes.
“There are a number of projects which are financed through Chinese grants and concessional loans. The total CPEC debt is about $4.9 billion which is not even 10 percent of Pakistan’s total debt,” Foreign Office spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui said in a weekly media briefing in Islamabad on Thursday.
Senior US diplomat Alice Wells on Tuesday criticized the CPEC during a speech at a think tank in Islamabad and urged Pakistan to rethink its involvement in it. She alleged that there was no transparency in CPEC projects, claiming Pakistan’s debt burden was growing due to the Chinese financing. Ambassador Wells, who was on a four-day visit, said companies blacklisted by the World Bank had contracts under the CPEC.
Farooqui said the CPEC should be seen in terms of the enormous economic benefits it gives to the people of Pakistan.
“Since the launch of CPEC in the energy sector, 12 power projects have either been completed or are under construction, with a total capacity of 7,240 megawatts, with an investment of $12.4 billion,” Farooqui said, adding that another nine projects were underway with a total capacity of 6,390 megawatts.
The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad in a statement on Wednesday termed Alice Wells remarks as “negative propaganda.”