2023 is the tenth anniversary of the the Belt and Road Initiative and the launch of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Over the past decade, as an important pilot project for the joint construction of the the Belt and Road, the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor has achieved fruitful results and become a new benchmark for China Pakistan friendship.

Since participating in the construction of the Pakistan Karakoram Highway with Chinese government assistance in the 1960s, CCCC has been deeply cultivating Pakistan for more than 60 years. It has built the Karakoram Highway and its renovation and expansion projects, Gwadar Deepwater Port and Free Trade Zone, Kasim Port International Container Terminal, Kasim LNG Terminal, Karachi Port Oil Terminal, Kasim FAP Grain and Fertilizer Terminal, Karachi Port Container Terminal and Breakwater Project A large number of iconic projects such as the Gwadar East Bay Expressway. These projects have set multiple records in Pakistan, including the first large-scale deepwater terminal, the first oil terminal, the first specialized terminal for grain and fertilizer, the first liquefied petroleum gas terminal, and so on. Currently, we are promoting projects such as the New Gwadar International Airport, Karachi No. 4 Water Supply Pipeline, and Gwadar Seawater Desalination, making continuous contributions to the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Karakoram Highway

The Karakoram Highway starts from Mankhsala, north of the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, and ends in the millennium old city of Kashgar, Xinjiang in western China. It stretches for 1224 kilometers and is the only land passage connecting China and Pakistan. It winds through the mountains of Kashmir in northern Pakistan and is known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". From 1966 to 1978, the Karakoram Highway was jointly built by the predecessors of China and Pakistan, and about 700 people from both sides sacrificed their lives. Until today, there are still 88 Chinese martyrs sleeping in the Martyrs' Cemetery. The people of Pakistan have not forgotten these Chinese people with a strong spirit of dedication, who have dedicated personnel to guard and clean the cemetery, and constantly spread the story of the Chinese people fearlessly building roads.

In 2007, China promised to help Pakistan rebuild and expand the Karakoram Highway, restore the interrupted land transportation between the two countries, and China Communications Construction Corporation once again took on the heavy responsibility of engineering construction tasks. The geological hazard map produced by the Science and Research Institute of the Ministry of Transportation shows that there are a total of 115 types of geological hazards along the entire road. The first phase of the project was completed in 2015. At present, the 118 kilometer Phase II project (Huwelyan Tacot) is under construction and is also one of the early harvest projects of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. In the late 1960s, the Chinese government decided to assist Pakistan in building the Karakoram Highway, the only foreign economic lifeline in northern Pakistan, which was undertaken by the predecessor of CCCC, the Foreign Aid Office of the Ministry of Transport. The highway starts from the millennium old city of Kashgar in western China in the north, crosses the three major mountain ranges of Karakoram, Himalayas, and Hindu Kush, as well as the Pamir Plateau, passes through the Hongqirapu Pass at the China Pakistan border port, and ends in the northern city of Tacot in Pakistan in the south. It stretches for 1224 kilometers and is extremely difficult to build, making it a truly "heavenly road".

Between 1966 and 1978, more than 22000 Chinese road builders, relying on their shoulders and hands to carry the road in the harsh natural environment and frequent disasters, with their tenacious will and the "Karakoram spirit" of continuous and fearless sacrifice, opened up this transportation artery connecting China and Pakistan. Over the course of more than ten years of construction, over 700 builders from both China and Pakistan have sacrificed their precious lives, of which 88 Chinese builders have remained permanently on Pakistan's land. The completion and opening of the Karakoram Highway not only lifted northern Pakistan from a closed state of "isolation" for generations, but also became a strong bond of friendship between China and Pakistan and a symbol of cooperation between China and Pakistan.

With the passage of time, this friendship road carrying the economic cooperation between China and Pakistan has gradually become overwhelmed by harsh geological conditions and frequent natural disasters, and the road conditions are deteriorating, unable to meet the growing economic and trade needs of China and Pakistan. In 2008, the Chinese government decided to once again assist Pakistan in upgrading and renovating the Karakoram Highway within its borders. CCCC overcame difficulties and embarked on a new journey once again, undertaking the implementation of highway reconstruction and expansion projects. In more than 7 years, it completed all the construction tasks of the "Karakoram Reconstruction and Expansion Project" and the "Karakoram Barrier Lake Relocation Project", reviving this significant road of friendship between China and Pakistan. The sincerity of Chinese builders has been recognized by the local people, and Chinese people and enterprises have become their trusted friends. Pakistanis have been guarding the tombs for 40 years for the Chinese highway builders who sacrificed their lives.

In 2016, to accelerate the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, CCCC continued to undertake the second phase of the Karakoram Highway project, which was fully opened in July 2020.

Gwadar Port and Free Trade Zone

The Gwadar Deepwater Port Construction Project is a foreign aid port project in China, characterized by strong comprehensiveness, difficult management, and high overall efficiency. It has significant political, diplomatic, and international significance. Gwadar Port includes three multi-purpose berths with a main dock shoreline of 602 meters. The project was undertaken by China Communications Construction Corporation and started on March 22, 2002. It was completed on December 22, 2004.

Gwadar Port was originally a sparsely populated small fishing village. The construction of Gwadar Project involves the construction of a modern large-scale port from scratch. In addition to port site selection, design and construction, it also includes harbor channels and navigation aids, land formation and road storage yards, warehouses and buildings, loading and unloading machinery and port vehicles, seawater desalination, water supply and drainage and sewage treatment, power generation and power supply, communication and control The comprehensive supporting facilities for fire protection and environmental protection involve multiple professions and have strong comprehensiveness.

In 2016, the construction of the Gwadar Free Zone Pilot Zone, which was contracted by CCCC, was officially launched. In February 2018, the Gwadar Free Zone opened. As the south gate of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, the development of Gwadar Port is of overall importance, and the construction of the Gwadar Free Zone with a planned area of approximately 923 hectares is of utmost importance. According to the plan, Gwadar is free to divide the north and south districts into four phases for construction. Among them, the starting area of the southern district is the first phase of the project, relying on the existing dock to build a commercial logistics development zone, with commodity exhibition, transit, trade, and fishery product processing as the main functions. The completed free zone has become an important node of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a demonstration zone for China Pakistan production capacity cooperation, and an engine for the economic development of western Pakistan.

On July 27, 2023 local time, Pakistani Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif went to Gwadar Port to unveil and cut the ribbon for the port area project, including the China Southern Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center project jointly constructed by the Second Navigation Bureau and the Fourth Navigation Institute. The project successfully passed the owner's completion acceptance on July 21.

The China Southern Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center project is located within the starting area of the Gwadar Free Zone in Pakistan. The project covers an area of approximately 2000 square meters, with a building area of approximately 3919 square meters. The building functions include exhibition halls, commercial, conference, cultural and sports, offices, dormitories, and more. As the future comprehensive exhibition and sales center, commercial and logistics center, as well as a window for external publicity and international exchange in the Gwadar region, the Southern China Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center will vigorously serve the development of manufacturing, commercial and logistics industries in the Gwadar region, deeply promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and further promote the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor in the Gwadar region, It will also pave the "the Belt and Road", a happy road for the world, wider and farther in Pakistan.

Gwadar Port East Bay Expressway

The Pakistan Gwadar Port East Bay Expressway project, funded by China and constructed by CCCC, began construction on October 12, 2017 and successfully opened to traffic on June 3, 2022. On the day of its opening to traffic, Shabaz attended the opening ceremony and highly praised the project for improving the local infrastructure construction level and promoting local economic and social development. He also expressed sincere gratitude to the Chinese personnel represented by the CCCC project team for their efforts in the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Gwadar is located in southwestern Pakistan, with a total length of 19.49 kilometers on the East Bay Expressway. It starts from Gwadar Port in the south and ends with Pakistan's National Highway 10. The project adopts a two-way 6-lane construction with Chinese standards and a designed speed of 100 kilometers per hour. It is one of the early harvest projects of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and an important transportation artery in the Gwadar region, providing important land support for the transportation of the Gwadar Port Free Zone.

Kasim Port Project

The Kasim Port project in Pakistan includes the design and construction general contracting of two projects: Kasim Port International Container Terminal Phase II Project and FAP Grain and Fertilizer Terminal Project. The project is located in its largest city, Karachi, and the second largest port in Pakistan - Kasim Port.

The second phase of the Kasim Port International Container Terminal project has a coastline of 727 meters, with a construction scale of two 100000 ton container berths and a container yard of over 100000 square meters. This project was the largest overseas investment project in Pakistan at that time. The construction scale of FAP Grain Fertilizer Terminal is one 75000 ton grain ship berth. The project mainly includes a 300 meter long high pile beam plate structure wharf, three mooring piers, as well as the formation of the rear land area, road storage yard, civil engineering and related supporting facilities. This project is the first specialized grain and fertilizer loading and unloading berth in Pakistan.

Karachi Port Project

Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan, serving as the center of national industry, commerce, and culture. Import and export trade is frequent, with over 95% of Pakistan's foreign trade materials and some of Afghanistan's import and export goods passing through Karachi. Karachi Port is located in the southwest of the Indus River Delta along the southern coast of Pakistan, on the north side of the Arabian Sea, and is the largest port in Pakistan. The Pakistan Deepwater Port Container Terminal Project Group includes breakwater projects, terminal projects, soft foundation treatment projects, as well as yard and building construction projects.

Before the construction, the container throughput capacity of major ports in Pakistan was only 2.2 million TEUs, approaching the limit of operational capacity, and there is an urgent need to actively build and expand port projects. After the completion of the Deepwater Port Container Port, the total container throughput in Pakistan will rapidly increase to 5.3 million TEUs, becoming the largest container terminal in Pakistan. The water depth at the dock apron is 18 meters, which allows for the docking of the world's largest ultra Panamax container ship. The first two berths of the Pakistan Deepwater Port Container Terminal were put into trial operation at the end of December 2016 and are currently operating well.

Lashakai Special Economic Zone Phase I Project

The Rashakai Special Economic Zone is located in the Cape Province of Pakistan, jointly developed and constructed by China Road and Bridge Corporation and the Cape Province Park Development Management Company. It covers an area of 1000 acres and is implemented in three phases. The first phase covers an area of 247 acres and started construction on May 28, 2021. It was completed and unveiled on July 21, 2023.

The Lashakai Special Economic Zone is a priority economic zone implemented under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, and is currently the only special economic zone under the corridor. It has received high attention from the leaders of both countries and is of great significance in implementing high-quality development in the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and stimulating regional economic vitality.Editor/Ma Xue