Iqbal’s versionInitially, provinces agreed to bear the subsidy for the special incentive package but now some provinces have backed out, said Ahsan Iqbal, the federal planning minister, after the CPEC review meeting. Iqbal said that there is a plan that wherever the land is expensive the provinces should offer the land on concessionary terms. In the second incentive, Pakistan was supposed to pick 50% of the freight subsidy on inland transportation of plant and machinery for installation and development in the priority SEZs. The K-P government endorsed the package but the other three provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and FATA refused to provide funds. According to the Framework Agreement of the ML-I, China will provide 85% of the project cost as a concessionary loan.

Source: The Express Tribune May 01, 2018 03:45 UTC