THE China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) launched formally during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Islamabad in 2015, symbolises the enduring China-Pakistan friendship. The implementation of the US$54 billion projects should in theory help boost Pakistan's economic and social development. Considered as a part of China's One Belt One Road vision, it is aimed to promote regional connectivity and infrastructure development. Underscoring its importance for China, the project is now a part of its 13th five-year development plan.

But the project needs to reckon with some awkward realities. Pakistan's population is very unevenly spread among its provinces. The majority of Pakistanis live in the Punjab - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's home province. Baluchistan, where the "crown jewel" of the CPEC, Gwadar, is located comprises 43 per cent of Pakistan's land area, much of its mineral resources, but contains only 3 per cent of its population. Smaller provinces accuse the government of disproportionately favouring Punjab.

The CPEC was expected to bring various units of Pakistan together in an integrated economic and communication framework but has instead fanned provincialism and discord, at least for now. To bring parties on board, the Chinese took the unusual step of holding the Joint Cooperation Council (JCC) - the highest decision-making body of CPEC in Beijing in December 2016. Attended also by the five chief ministers of constituent units of Pakistan, the Beijing meeting calmed the parties, through a promise of evenly distributed industrial estates and mass transit systems.