Several chambers of commerce and industry in the country have expressed serious concern over the lack of transparency in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects - transparency which is a sine qua non of any democratic dispensation. The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has prepared a 139-page report titled "FPCCI stance on CPEC" which maintains that "inflow of Chinese investment and business enterprises will adversely impact the interests of Pakistani business communities - it covers the signing of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China and flooding of Chinese products, inflow of Chinese investments and migration of Chinese labour force to Pakistan." Casting further doubt on the economic benefits that would accrue from CPEC projects, the FPCCI report argues that, "the problematic factors in doing business in Pakistan and particularly the corruption by policymakers through misuse of public funds, favouritism and bribes lead to mistrust on international agreements and foreign projects."

The provincial governments led by parties other than PML-N, notably Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have, over time, expressed their extreme reservations over the choice of projects, accusing the government of displaying a pro-Punjab bias. However, while these concerns have been typically dismissed by the Sharif administration as inaccurate and politically motivated yet, one would hope that the government takes the concerns of the productive sectors of the country more seriously. It is, however, needless to mention that trade and industry have been fully supportive of the Pakistan Muslim League led by Nawaz Sharif, though their concerns to-date have also largely been ignored.

This newspaper has been fully supportive of the CPEC as a game changer; however, the failure of the government to ease the concerns of political opponents as well as those of industry and commerce are very worrying. There are claims that the infrastructure envisaged under the CPEC is being constructed not by Pakistani labour but by Chinese labour - which belies the government's claims that employment opportunities would rise with the CPEC project implementation. Secondly, one must not lose sight of the fact that the FTA with China is skewed in favour of China rather than Pakistan. There is, therefore, an urgent need to take a highly prudent approach insofar as negotiations on the second phase of China-Pakistan FTA are concerned. The policymakers are also required to ensure that flooding of cheap Chinese products does not sound the death knell of our local industry.

The FPCCI report also casts doubt on the government policies and attempts to check corruption and points out that "the higher tax rates, corruption and inflation are the top most problematic factors for doing business in Pakistan." Or in other words, there is not enough confidence in the decision-makers or indeed in the civil service that implements the decisions taken by the Executive to provide local businesses with a comfort level.

It is unfortunate and indeed baffling that third time around the Sharif administration appears to have not only abandoned all efforts to achieve transparency in its financial agreements with other countries but has also issued a notification that defangs regulatory bodies that were taking logical decisions to ensure transparency. The Public Procurement and Regulatory Authority (PPRA), for example, is now under the control of the Ministry of Finance which, critics argue, paves the way for the administration to take decisions with respect to CPEC that flaunt PPRA rules. The 15-year deal signed with Qatar with respect to import of Liquefied Natural Gas in February last year is still not uploaded on the website in spite of repeated assurances by Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources that, ironically, continue to this day. His latest argument is that he has instructed Pakistan State Oil to upload the deal on its website, which is under the administrative control of his Ministry, but their failure to do so is not his responsibility!