The Social Dimensions of CPEC in Pakistan

Abstract

This issue brief examines the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a social and political process, not merely an infrastructure project. It argues that while CPEC has improved energy supply, connectivity and investment prospects, its benefits remain unevenly distributed. The analysis focuses on five dimensions: regional inequality, debt and transparency, gender, environment, and securitization. It shows that CPEC has strengthened older patterns of centralized decision-making and uneven development in Pakistan. Regions such as Balochistan and Gwadar face displacement, livelihood disruption, environmental stress and limited participation in planning. Women also remain largely outside CPEC’s formal economic gains, even as they bear many of its social costs. The increasing securitization around CPEC has narrowed civic space and increased mistrust between local communities and the state.

Introduction

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is often described through numbers such as investment amounts, megawatts (MW) of electricity produced, kilometers of roads built, and similar indicators. Data such as these are emphasized within official communications and policy debates. Yet they capture only part of what is unfolding. Beneath these visible gains lies a deeper transformation of social life in Pakistan. CPEC is transforming how people work, where they live, how resources are distributed, and how new forms of interaction are emerging between the Pakistani government and its citizens. These changes are uneven.

As a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), CPEC was initiated by both countries in 2015. At the time of its launch, CPEC was designed to combine energy generation, transportation infrastructure, the development of Gwadar Port, and Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The amount of money allocated toward CPEC initially totaled approximately USD 46 billion and currently is greater than USD 60 billion in planned and committed investments. For Pakistan, CPEC presented an opportunity to address several long-term issues, including persistent energy shortages, underdeveloped transportation networks, and a lack of investment in industry. For China, CPEC represents a shorter and strategically significant corridor connecting Xinjiang to the Arabian Sea and providing an alternative route that reduces dependence on sea lanes that traverse geopolitical choke points.

Within the official discourse surrounding CPEC, it is framed as transformative. It is possible to view CPEC from this perspective. While energy availability has improved, leading to reductions in load shedding within select urban centers, transportation links have been extended, resulting in reduced travel times and improvements in connectivity among large cities. However, a decade into its implementation, the social picture is much more complex. Gains resulting from CPEC are visible, but they are not equally shared among all regions and populations or social groups. While certain locations and groups have benefited disproportionately from CPEC-related developments, other regions, communities, and population segments face challenges associated with forced displacement, environmental degradation, and unequal access to new opportunities.

This study examines CPEC not just as an economic project but as a social process embedded in Pakistan’s political economy. The outcomes of CPEC depend upon who receives benefits and/or faces costs from developing CPEC-related infrastructure, how decision-making authority regarding CPEC is exercised, and how the daily life experiences of local communities evolve as a result of the project. The analysis is organized around five interrelated themes: uneven regional development and disparities, questions of debt and transparency, the gendered dimensions of CPEC, the environmental effects of development, and the intersectionality between CPEC and the militarization/securitization of everyday life. Together, these themes demonstrate that CPEC is not just producing infrastructure and growth, but also reshaping social relationships, state-society interactions, and patterns of inclusion and exclusion. This study draws attention to these less observable consequences by examining how development unfolds on the ground and how it is experienced by different sections of society.