Research Analyst, under the Pakistan News Digest Project, IDSA, Ms Zainab Akhter’s commentary on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, titled ‘Is Pakistan Cost-Cutting The CPEC?’ was published in AIR World Service, an External Services Division of All India Radio, on January 17, 2019.
The article analyses the PTI Government’s plan to remove hundreds of projects from the CPEC priority list, terming them as ‘politically motivated’. The decision to shelve a major coal-based power plant, the ‘Yar Rahim Khan Project’ is perceived as a major jolt to the overall Belt and Road Initiative by China (BRI or OBOR), especially CPEC.