China’s belt and road: after the gold rush, Pakistan sees the downside
- Beijing’s massive investment in projects such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor supercharged Pakistan’s GDP growth, for a while
- Now the ‘early harvest’ has been reaped, interest is drying up – and so are the jobs
In the late 1990s, Islamabad-based entrepreneur Sheikh Ejaz Asghar heard rumblings from his recently established Chinese contacts in the Pakistani capital. Beijing was going to finance several major infrastructure projects and its state-owned enterprises (SOEs) would need local service providers, both to help navigate their new operating environment and procure the vast volumes of materials that would be needed.
Acting on this timely tip-off, Asghar began visiting China in 2000 to establish relationships with SOEs and manufacturers of materials he would need to import. He also learned Chinese, to facilitate his new-found business relationships and strengthen his hand in negotiations.
“It was a question of taking the initiative,” he said. “You never get anywhere unless you make the effort, so that’s what I did.”
Asghar is particularly proud of the work Project Solutions did for China State Construction Corporation during the construction of the new Islamabad International Airport, which opened in 2018.
“We supplied them more than 50 different materials in huge volumes. Some were locally sourced. Others were imported from China and sold to the Chinese, which is no mean feat,” Asghar said, grinning.