The National Assembly Standing Committee on Planning and Development passed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Bill 2020 on Tuesday.
The National Assembly Standing Committee held its meeting under the chairmanship of Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Junaid Akbar.
The bill was passed with a majority, even though it had garnered strong resistance from the opposition. One notable NA member who opposed the bill and provided several reasons objecting to the creation of the CPEC Authority was Pakistan Muslim League-N’s, Ahsan Iqbal. After the bill was passed, he gave a note of dissent in writing.
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Creation of CPEC authority is superfluous and unnecessary. Ministry of Planning has discharged the role diligently and effectively in the past.
He said that the actual requirement for the implementation of CPEC is the proper functioning of ministries to perform their role with full ownership and that the creation of a separate CPEC authority will only lead to confusion and conflict between the authority and ministries.
The pay and package of the CPEC Authority Chairman also came under discussion during the meeting, to which the Ministry of Planning said that there was no hefty pay and package provided to the CPEC Authority Chairman.
The ministry’s statement informed, “The Chairman CPEC Authority did not sign any memorandum of understanding after the lapse of CPEC Authority ordinance.”
