I ATTENDED a seminar arranged by the Institute of Business Administration on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on March 17.
Although many spoke positively on the subject, the questions raised by the audience, including students, were sceptical in nature. They reflected inter-provincial disharmony as well as central and provincial government mistrust.
This is despite the fact that Dr Ishrat Husain, former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and former dean of the IBA, in his opening remarks, had pleaded with the audience to look into positives and concentrate on its benefits without any regional and ethnic bias.
The closing remarks by Dr Husain were most reassuring. He spoke with the passion of a young patriot and visionary looking deep into the future. His positive voice reverberated in the IBA auditorium which converted all nay-sayers into yes ones. Only he could do that.
Having heard a couple of people talk about no tecnology transfer in CPEC road construction projects,he gave apertinent example of Ring Road of Beijing which was built in less than a year compared to six years taken by Lahore Ring Road.
He said we must learn about how the Chinese manage to do such projects on time and within the budget. He quoted a government study which said that none of the government projects were completed within cost or on schedule. The government should consider making Dr Husain a minister of state for inter-provincial harmony for completion of this gamechanging project.
