Corridor Calculus

Corridor Calculus : China Pakistan Economic Corridor & China's Comprador Investment Model in Pakistan
But later that year it became clear that the only money that the Chinese
were going to pump in to Pakistan's decrepit and derelict railway network
was $3.5 billion to refurbish the mail line from Karachi to Peshawar. This was
a concessional loan under the CPEC programme with sovereign guarantees
from the Government of Pakistan. All the work undertaken would be by
Chinese companies without any bidding or tendering and with an assured
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20–25% profit on their investment. After the visit of President Xi Jinping,
Pakistan's CPEC point-man, Ahsan Iqbal, acknowledged that the Gwadar-
Khunjerab rail link was a long-term project and would be completed only by
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2030.
Clearly then, both the railway and the pipeline are pipedreams for now. But
what is important is that without these two projects being part of the CPEC,
the economic utility as well as the strategic significance of the CPEC is just
not the same. On the other hand, even if a rail and pipeline were part of
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Cui Jia, 'China studying new Silk Road rail link to Pakistan', China Daily 28/06/2014, accessed at
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2014-06/28/content_17621525.htm
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Anwer Sumra, 'Pakistan Railways: China to inject $3.5b into infrastructure development', Express Tribune 22/10/2014,
accessed at http://tribune.com.pk/story/779029/pakistan-railways-china-to-inject-3-5b-into-infrastructure-development/
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'Ahsan reveal three routes of corridor', Dawn 15/05/2015, accessed at http://www.dawn.com/news/1182074/ahsan-revealsthree-routes-of-corridor
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