QUETTA: Pakistan and China have decided to shift the Centre of China Pakistan Economic Corridor from Gwadar to Karachi due to security reasons and the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan.

According to a Japanese newspaper “Nikkei Asia” A MOU was signed between both countries for the Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone Project in which it was shared that China is going to invest 3.5 billion dollars separately only for development of Karachi port.

Gwadar which was supposed to be the game changer in this joint venture will now only be used as a transit port following its electricity crisis and security problems. It is believed by the investing country that Karachi offers better infrastructure as it is the largest city and main commercial hub of Pakistan.

The separatist elements in Balochistan have opposed CPEC from the very start and have targeted Chinese workers many times. They tend to believe that One Belt One road initiative by China is a neo-colonial plot of developed world for plundering the resources of the under-developed.

It should be mentioned that Gwadar has lost much foreign investment as Saudi Arabia earlier shifted an investment of 10 billion dollar to Karachi which was proposed for an oil refinery.