Keeping economy, CPEC intact: Pakistan seeks friends’ help to avoid IMF bailout
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PAKISTANFOREVER
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So says a member of the race and nation that calls for the destruction of the Pakistani race and nation..........
So says a member of the race and nation that calls for the destruction of the Pakistani race and nation..........
Says the long term plan.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1333101
Says what the chinese are upto in other countries:
Sri Lanka Formally Hands Over Hambantota Port to Chinese Firms on 99-Year Lease
There is no 'free' Chinese lunch.
P.s. Ofcourse none of this is necessary if you don't ask them for aid every now and then.
airmarshal
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How embarrassing it is that a country like Pakistan has to beg nations for money.
If you think about it, its total mismanagement of economy, corruption and incompetence. If Pakistan is better governed, it can still live with dignity without begging. When Musharraf managed economy better, improved governance, Pakistan was not only independent of IMF, it had budget surplus. This was only 12 years ago.
Under our celebrated democracy, we have amassed so much loan liability, our economy has no capacity to pay back.
If you think about it, its total mismanagement of economy, corruption and incompetence. If Pakistan is better governed, it can still live with dignity without begging. When Musharraf managed economy better, improved governance, Pakistan was not only independent of IMF, it had budget surplus. This was only 12 years ago.
Under our celebrated democracy, we have amassed so much loan liability, our economy has no capacity to pay back.
PAKISTANFOREVER
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indians said EXACTLY the same with regards to Pakistan becoming a nuclear weapons state............
t_for_talli
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Kuch aur nahi hai kya , har thread pe , every time same nuclear rant,indians said EXACTLY the same with regards to Pakistan becoming a nuclear weapons state............
There are only handful of things which Pakistanis can boast about
Kam sikke wale fakiro ke katore ho sab se zyada awaz karte hain
Chhatrapati
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Stability in Pakistan is important for the entire region. Be it China, Afg, Iran or even India. Most of all, it's important for China as their flagship OBOR project is CPEC. China will probably bail them out as they don't want to see another country where Chinese project is going on, went bankrupt. China has around 3 trillion in reserves as the minister correctly points out if they can buy US bonds worth $500 billion. Why not a friendly country?
There is a reason the Chinese are where they are and its not by giving handouts. Do your research on why China buys those bonds. Thats a 'symbiotic' relationship. Otherwise, As i said, and do read my replies before giving your two cents. There is no 'Free' Chinese lunch. Thats all. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Also before you say it, let me do the honors for you" Chinese Pakistani friendship is taller than the tallest mountain, deepest than the deepest seas and sweeter than honey. Also FATF was an aberration. Also international relationships are all about "Friendship" & being "Iron Brothers". There now.
PAKISTANFOREVER
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Kuch aur nahi hai kya , har thread pe , every time same nuclear rant,
There are only handful of things which Pakistanis can boast about
Kam sikke wale fakiro ke katore ho sab se zyada awaz karte hain
Because 1.3 billion indians are the biggest superpower the world has ever seen.......
........so much so that despite all the rants and dog barking against Pakistan, india remains far too weak, powerless and incapable of fighting Pakistan despite being more than 7x bigger than us and having abundant access to the world's most advanced weapons systems whilst we are denied this privilege...................And someone belonging to the race and nation that calls for the destruction of the Pakistani race and nation would not say anything else. Therefore anything an indian says against Pakistsn is completely null, void, worthless and of no consequence.
Chhatrapati
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haha, who said anything about Chinese giving free lunch. What I said has nothing to do with feelings of brotherhood. But mere political interest on China's part. And China is not someone who always see's others interest it's just like a US or Russia. My point still stands, that China will not let that happen. The cost Pakistan might pay may be higher.
Rizwan Alam
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@ Mods.. Please delete the topic. I am embarrassed! 
Nothing
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SA will ask for immediate leverage in terms of military support mostly if they give money. But looking at new price looks difficult. China will support with money if they see CPEC will get harm. But that will be losing deal for Pakistan. Already Pakistan has provided too much of concession to China in terms of tender free project allocations and duty-free import worth billions of USD. God knows how much is getting misused. And there is a long-term missing plan to turn everything into a money making the machine so Pakistan can pay back 30 billion USD back to China. I know few posters will crucify me for saying anything again CPEC. But it was missed an opportunity. Feels like GOP never knew what is next for CPEC and agenda was driven by one party. Pakistan could have manufactured so many stuff at home instead of importing them for all these projects but they kept importing from China. When India planned to start metro revolution first think government decided is to set up coach manufacturing plant. But Pakistan missed numerous such opportunities. Trusting a friend is one thing and keeping your eyes and closed and riding on emotions is a foolish thing.
Anyway, I still believe going to IMF is a better option as that brings some regulatory oversight from them and politicians are answerable to them in-case of mismanagement. Going to "Friends" is selling some leverage to them and politicians will be answerable to no one.
PSO circular debt soars to Rs 337 billion - 30 March 2018 -
Railways upgrade: Pakistan delays approval of Mainline-I amid differences over cost
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan has again delayed approval of the Mainline-I project – the only strategic scheme of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – after Beijing tagged the phase-I of the scheme at $4 billion, which is $627 million higher than Pakistan’s estimates.
The difference over the cost and scope of the ML-I project of Pakistan Railways has also blocked the approval of concessionary loan by China, according to officials of the Ministry of Planning. According to Framework Agreement of the ML-I, China will provide 85% of the project cost as concessionary loan. The ML-I project has been declared “strategically important” by both the countries.
CPEC project: Railways upgradation work to start next month
The approval of the upgrade of Pakistan Railways ML-I was part of the agenda of Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting that was held on Thursday under the chair of Planning Commission Deputy Chairperon Sartaj Aziz.
The CDWP did not take up the project for discussion on the request of Ministry of Railways, according to the planning ministry. The delay in approval of the ML-I project highlights challenges to CPEC that also suggests that the implementation of the $60-billion initiative has slowed down. The project was conceived to upgrade Pakistan Railways’ dilapidated and obsolete infrastructure.
Initially, the total cost of the project, having length of 1,872 kilometres, had been estimated at $8.2 billion. But the government subsequently decided to split the project into two due to its high cost and the work that requires refurbishment and expansion of the main rail line. Now, Pakistan wants to construct only the 748km track under phase-I of the project, according to the new PC-I of the scheme Pakistan Railways has submitted to the planning ministry.
To carry out the feasibility study to firm up the cost and scope a consortium had been set up. The three parties of the consortium were China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Limited (CREEC), National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) and Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services (PRACS).
According to NESPAK, the cost of the phase-I is $3.4 billion. But according to Chinese consultant -CREEC -the phase-I cost is $4.02 billion, which is $627 million higher than the NESPAK estimate. The PRACS put the phase-I cost at $3.3 billion.
Despite wasting 21 months, “the project cost and scope has yet to be firmed up” showed the documents.
Another interesting fact was that the scope of the work in phase-I under the new PC-I has been reduced by 56% as compared to phase-I approved by the CDWP in June 2016. Despite 56% reduction in scope, the cost has been increased by 6% at the lowest cost determined by NESPAK, according to planning ministry.
Under old phase-I, the Multan Lahore section had 334km length, which has now been increased by 5 kilometre. The 182km Karachi-Hyderabad section has now been completely excluded under new PC-I of the phase-I. The Karachi-Kotri section of 163km has also been excluded.
The Multan-Hyderabad section has now been reduced to only 183km.
“From this it infers that the cost of entire project including the phase-II is likely to increase manifold from $8.2 billion,” according to new project documents. There is also an issue of providing on average Rs94 billion or $810 million per annum to Pakistan Railways for the next four years while its current total development budget is a mere Rs43 billion.
PU and China’s NEU sign MoU
After the completion of the project, the line capacity of Pakistan Railways will increase from current 34 to 171 trains per day. But as per traffic forecast given in the new PC-I, Pakistan will be able to achieve 145 trains per day by 2040. “The proposed facility will remain underutilised till year 2040.” For the sake of the financial plan, the interest rate on Chinese government loan has been estimated at 3% and China will provide 85% of the project cost as a concessionary loan. An internal agreement on the exact financing modalities was essential before making a request to China for processing a loan.
The Ministry of Finance and a financing group, set up to firm up funding modalities for the ML-I project, are in favour of acquiring the loan with sovereign guarantees, show documents. In the case of sovereign guarantees, the total project cost will not become part of Pakistan’s ballooning external debt of $89 billion. The responsibility of loan repayment will lie on the Ministry of Railways.
Under the May 2017 framework agreement, the project will be solely funded by China.
However, Pakistan Railways wants the central government to acquire the loan, which will not only make it part of the external debt, but will also shift the loan-servicing responsibility to the centre.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2018.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/167275...lays-approval-mainline-amid-differences-cost/
Railways upgrade: Pakistan delays approval of Mainline-I amid differences over cost
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan has again delayed approval of the Mainline-I project – the only strategic scheme of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – after Beijing tagged the phase-I of the scheme at $4 billion, which is $627 million higher than Pakistan’s estimates.
The difference over the cost and scope of the ML-I project of Pakistan Railways has also blocked the approval of concessionary loan by China, according to officials of the Ministry of Planning. According to Framework Agreement of the ML-I, China will provide 85% of the project cost as concessionary loan. The ML-I project has been declared “strategically important” by both the countries.
CPEC project: Railways upgradation work to start next month
The approval of the upgrade of Pakistan Railways ML-I was part of the agenda of Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting that was held on Thursday under the chair of Planning Commission Deputy Chairperon Sartaj Aziz.
The CDWP did not take up the project for discussion on the request of Ministry of Railways, according to the planning ministry. The delay in approval of the ML-I project highlights challenges to CPEC that also suggests that the implementation of the $60-billion initiative has slowed down. The project was conceived to upgrade Pakistan Railways’ dilapidated and obsolete infrastructure.
Initially, the total cost of the project, having length of 1,872 kilometres, had been estimated at $8.2 billion. But the government subsequently decided to split the project into two due to its high cost and the work that requires refurbishment and expansion of the main rail line. Now, Pakistan wants to construct only the 748km track under phase-I of the project, according to the new PC-I of the scheme Pakistan Railways has submitted to the planning ministry.
To carry out the feasibility study to firm up the cost and scope a consortium had been set up. The three parties of the consortium were China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Limited (CREEC), National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) and Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services (PRACS).
According to NESPAK, the cost of the phase-I is $3.4 billion. But according to Chinese consultant -CREEC -the phase-I cost is $4.02 billion, which is $627 million higher than the NESPAK estimate. The PRACS put the phase-I cost at $3.3 billion.
Despite wasting 21 months, “the project cost and scope has yet to be firmed up” showed the documents.
Another interesting fact was that the scope of the work in phase-I under the new PC-I has been reduced by 56% as compared to phase-I approved by the CDWP in June 2016. Despite 56% reduction in scope, the cost has been increased by 6% at the lowest cost determined by NESPAK, according to planning ministry.
Under old phase-I, the Multan Lahore section had 334km length, which has now been increased by 5 kilometre. The 182km Karachi-Hyderabad section has now been completely excluded under new PC-I of the phase-I. The Karachi-Kotri section of 163km has also been excluded.
The Multan-Hyderabad section has now been reduced to only 183km.
“From this it infers that the cost of entire project including the phase-II is likely to increase manifold from $8.2 billion,” according to new project documents. There is also an issue of providing on average Rs94 billion or $810 million per annum to Pakistan Railways for the next four years while its current total development budget is a mere Rs43 billion.
PU and China’s NEU sign MoU
After the completion of the project, the line capacity of Pakistan Railways will increase from current 34 to 171 trains per day. But as per traffic forecast given in the new PC-I, Pakistan will be able to achieve 145 trains per day by 2040. “The proposed facility will remain underutilised till year 2040.” For the sake of the financial plan, the interest rate on Chinese government loan has been estimated at 3% and China will provide 85% of the project cost as a concessionary loan. An internal agreement on the exact financing modalities was essential before making a request to China for processing a loan.
The Ministry of Finance and a financing group, set up to firm up funding modalities for the ML-I project, are in favour of acquiring the loan with sovereign guarantees, show documents. In the case of sovereign guarantees, the total project cost will not become part of Pakistan’s ballooning external debt of $89 billion. The responsibility of loan repayment will lie on the Ministry of Railways.
Under the May 2017 framework agreement, the project will be solely funded by China.
However, Pakistan Railways wants the central government to acquire the loan, which will not only make it part of the external debt, but will also shift the loan-servicing responsibility to the centre.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2018.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/167275...lays-approval-mainline-amid-differences-cost/
Flynn Swagmire
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Congratulations to Pakistan and Pakistanis... 
