Operationalizing CPEC
With the arrival of the first shipment of 300 Chinese trucks at the Sost Dry Port in Gilgit-Baltistan on Monday 30 October 2016, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor became operational. Two weeks later on 13 November, this consignment was loaded on ships from Gwadar and seen off by the Prime Minister and other VIPs who had gathered for this unique occasion. The event received wide publicity in the local as well as international press and electronic media with many terming it the beginning of a new chapter in Pakistan's history and the herald of "a new dawn". But there were some who moaned the lack of any local content except providing security. They felt that at least the trucks used to carry the goods could have been locally assembled to give boost to the local assembly of trucks and buses.
