ISLAMABAD (TIP): Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif May 20 broke ground for the USD 44 million Pakistan-China Optical Fibre Cable project in PoK’s Gilgit-Baltistan region which will provide an alternate telecommunication route between the two countries.

The project is part of the ambitious USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), linking western China to the strategic Gawadar port in southern Pakistan via a network of roads, railways and communication systems.

The Optical Fibre Cable project will be completed in two years and Special Communication Organisation will lay 820-kilometre-long cable from Rawalpindi to Khunjrab, Radio Pakistan reported.

On completion, the project will provide an alternate telecommunication route between Pakistan and China.

Sharif also inaugurated the CPEC patrolling police headquarters in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The force comprising 300 personnel and 25 vehicles, gifted by China, will ensure safe and smooth flow of traffic on the 439-kilometre chunk of the 3,000-kilometre CPEC project. The CPEC passes through the restive Balochistan province. Pakistan is readying a special force of 4,000 security personnel to protect Chinese nationals working at various projects in Punjab province, including the CPEC project.

Already more than 17,000 security personnel from the army and other security forces have been engaged to ensure fool-proof security to Chinese nationals. (PTI)