ISLAMABAD: Islamabad and Beijing have agreed on the construction of an expressway connecting Pakistan’s southern deep-sea port of Gwadar with a new airport being developed by China in the coastal town, state-run APP news agency said on Friday. 

In a statement earlier this month, the Pakistan Airports Authority reiterated its commitment to opening the New Gwadar International Airport by the end of December, after the start of operations at the Chinese-funded airport in Pakistan’s Balochistan province was pushed back for a security review following deadly attacks by separatist militants in the area in August. 

The airport will handle domestic and international flights, according to Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, and will be one of the country’s biggest airports.

“Pakistan and China on Thursday agreed on the construction of an expressway connecting the Gwadar Port with the new Gwadar Airport,” APP reported on Thursday after meetings between Chinese officials and Pakistani Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is on a visit to China. 

“Additionally, feasibility studies for new motorways, including the Mirpur-Muzaffarabad and Karachi-Hyderabad routes, were agreed to be initiated at the earliest.”

China has pledged over $65 billion in infrastructure, energy and other projects in Pakistan under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, the program in Pakistan is also developing the deep-water port close to the new $200-million airport in Gwadar, a joint venture between Pakistan, Oman and China that is close to completion.

Although no Chinese projects were targeted in the latest militant attacks in August, they have been frequently attacked in the past by separatists who view China as a foreign invader trying to gain control of impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan, the site of a decades-long insurgency. 

Recent attacks, including one in which two Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing in Karachi, have forced Beijing to publicly criticize Pakistan over security lapses and there have been widespread media reports in recent weeks that China wants its own security forces on the ground to protest its nationals and projects, a demand Islamabad has long resisted.