BEIJING: China’s plan to build a railway link to Pakistan through the disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) region could cost about USD 57.7 billion, according to an official feasibility study, which recommended the government to go ahead with the project for its strategic significance, despite heavy costs, a media report said on Thursday.
The proposed 3,000-km railway, connecting Pakistan’s port of Gwadar to Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), was assessed by scientists from the state-owned China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group Co Ltd.
India has protested to China over the USD 60 billion CPEC corridor as it is being laid through PoK.
China’s increasing number of projects in Pakistan with billions of dollars in loans raised concerns about the increasing indebtedness of Pakistan, which is reeling under a serious economic crisis.