Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying has announced that China is willing to add the $3.5 billion Karachi Comprehensive Coastal Development Zone (KCCDZ) in the CPEC framework.
“In the recently-held 10th JCC meeting, China and Pakistan agreed to include the Karachi project in the CPEC framework and listed it as an outcome of the meeting,” she said.
The federal government had unveiled an ambitious plan to rebuild Karachi’s coastline under CPEC with $3.5 billion “direct Chinese investment” that aims to overhaul the city’s seaboard with new berths for the port, a new fishery port and a ‘majestic harbour bridge’ connecting it with Manora islands and Sandspit beach.
The KCCDZ — spread over 640 hectares or 1,581 acres on the western backwaters marshland of the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) leading to revamp one of the oldest city slums Machhar Colony relocating its more than half a million population — is an initiative of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs.
In a tweet, Prime Minister Imran Khan has termed the inclusion of the Karachi coastal zone in CPEC a game-changer and expressed the hope that it would help in cleaning up marine habitat for fishermen, develop low income housing units and creating investment opportunities.
