STORY: Rashakai SEZ under CPEC begins to contribute to industrial development in Pakistan
SHOOTING TIME: Oct. 1, 2024
DATELINE: Oct. 17, 2024
LENGTH: 0:01:29
LOCATION: Islamabad
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. STANDUP (English): ALI JASWAL, Xinhua reporter
2. various of the project
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ASHRAF ORAKZAI, Director of utilities at Rashakai Special Economic Zone
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WU YUXING, Project manager of China Road and Bridge Corporation at Rashakai

STORYLINE:

STANDUP (English): ALI JASWAL, Xinhua reporter
"The construction of the first phase of the Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ), part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework is already completed. Located in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, over 60 percent of land of this special economic zone has already been leased out to the Pakistani and Chinese enterprises. Built by the Chinese company, this special economic zone has all the basic infrastructure as well as operational facilities required by the investors."

Launched in 2013, CPEC, a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, is a corridor linking the Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan's Balochistan province with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation in the first phase, while in the new phase expands to fields of agriculture and livelihood, among others.

The SEZ has a complete infrastructure of more than a dozen individual buildings, 7 km of roads, and a variety of complete network facilities, including water, drainage, power supply, and communication.

Invested and implemented by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the project is divided into three phases, covering a total area of around 1,000 acres.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ASHRAF ORAKZAI, Director of utilities at Rashakai Special Economic Zone
"We are having more than 25 enterprises right now. And out of them, 10 are under construction. So it's a great achievement in a very short time.
If any enterprise wants to come here, all utilities are available here at their doorstep, so, it is a very conducive environment for all the investors."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WU YUXING, Project manager of China Road and Bridge Corporation at Rashakai
"As a special economic zone, we are positioned to vigorously promote the next step of industrial cooperation between Pakistan and China. At the same time, the overall scale of the park and subsequent operation and maintenance, and services for the entire industrial chain of enterprises are also of top quality. We have the confidence and ability to build Rashakai into the best quality special economic zone in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Islamabad.
(XHTV)