Chinese state-owned construction company China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) has criticised the cancellation of its contract to carry out the Jaglot-Skardu road project in Pakistan.

CGGC vice president Yang Yisheng wrote to Pakistan’s National Highway Authority (NHA), the company’s client on the project, on 12 October 2012 to argue that the contract should not be cancelled without valid reasons, according to Pakistani news sources.

The contract to widen and improve the Jaglot-Skardu road in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, originally signed in 2010, was reportedly cancelled by the Ministry of Communication as the contract process was not sufficiently transparent.

Yisheng’s letter asserted that the project process had been transparent, and the contract’s terms of reference were similar to those on other projects in the region, including the recently-completed Ataabad Lake road diversion.

Yisheng argued that the project is in Pakistan’s interest and the case should be reviewed by the NHA, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).

The Jaglot-Skardu road was originally built by the Pakistani army in the 1970s, and the reconstruction was intended to help the road handle traffic increases, both civilian and military.