The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Wednesday approved the establishment of the China-Pakistan Joint Research Centre (CPJRC) on Earth Sciences, at Quaid-i-Azam University (QUA) Islamabad.
The CDWP meeting was convened under the chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives (PD&SI) and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Professor AhsanIqbal.
As per details, CPJRS will have all fields of natural science related to the study of our planet’s physical characteristics, from earthquakes to raindrops, floods to fossils and the impact of human activities on the earth’s environment. “It was decided that for this project China will bear the cost.” reads an official statement.
Besides other earth-related studies, CPJRS will focus on the impacts of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)’s large-scale infrastructure activities and will further promote scientific and technological research and development studies in the earth sciences. This will be the first of its kind to pursue problems related to land, sea and atmosphere due to large-scale CPEC infrastructure and other activities. The Centre will also contribute towards enhanced knowledge of geological evolution of processes and natural hazards, as well as proposing measures to deal with natural hazards.
CDWP also approved the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Support Project to be established with an estimated cost of Rs732 million. The Ministry of PD&SI is the sponsoring agency of the project which will establish and strengthen the CPEC Secretariat in the Ministry of PD&SI, for overall coordination and implementation of CPEC projects/activities in collaboration with the concerned line ministries.
The project will provide secretariat support to the CPEC-related activities i.e. organizing JCC and JWG. PD&SI has been declared as the coordinating and leading agency of the Joint Working Group (JWG) from the Pakistani side. The project is providing all kinds of technical and secretariat support in the formulation of plans and carries out work under the guidance of JWG.
