The opposition parties oppose formation of CPEC Authority saying that it was against the recommendations of the parliamentary committee.
ISLAMABAD: (Urdu Point/Pakistan Point News-Nov 27th, 2019) Amid opposition’s strong criticism of formation of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority (CPECA), the government appointed retired Lieutenant Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa as its chairman, the reports said.
According to the details, the Federal Cabinet issued a notification under which mentioned that a competent authority appointed retired Lt Gen Bajwa as Chairman of the CPECA which falls under the planning and development ministry.
Under the new notification, the new chairperson will get MP-I scale for a period of four years from the date of assuming the charge of the office with immediate effect and until further orders.
The federal government could only be able to revoke the status of the authority which could summon anyone to seek information about anything related to the CPEC, they said, adding that the authority would be fully empowered to impose fine on anyone who failed to comply with the orders of the authority. No legal or whatsoever proceedings could be initiated against any member of the authority, the sources said.
The opposition parties, however, opposed formation of the CPEC authority and cited various reasons on it. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party, rejected formation of CPECA, saying that it was violation of recommendations of the parliamentary committee concerned. PPP rejected it saying that the authority was tantamount to undermining supremacy of the parliament. PML-N said that the authority would create problems and complications in collaborations between the ministers and apartments and bureaucratic hurdles and limitations would hamper and stall the CPEC.
Earlier, JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman opposed formation of CPECA and said that the government was making the corridor project controversial. “There was no need of establishing any separate authority for the CPEC project,” said Maulana, adding that “the decision of the parliamentary committee has been neglected in its formation,”.
On Oct 8, 2019, President Arif Alvi signed on CPEC Authority Ordinance as the authority will have the jurisdiction across the country and will be comprising 10-members with Prime Minister as its Executive Director. A grade-20 officer, the sources said, would be appointed as chief executive officer of the authority on deputation basis and the authority would be responsible to look after all the matters related to the authority. The authority would coordinate and monitor all matters related to the CPEC and any beneficiary of the CPEC would not be eligible to be part of the authority, they said.
They also said that a business council would be established to achieve the set goals of the authority while the authority would decide its annual budget by its own and a three-member committee would give approval of all investment.
They said the Auditor General of Pakistan would be responsible to do audit of the authority and CPEC fund would be established under the CPEC Ordinance, 2019, and all grants, loans and funds would also be managed by the said fund.
