Wells also reiterated her warnings that it will increase cash-strapped Pakistan's debt burden and urged the country to rethink its involvement in it

Senior US diplomat Alice Wells on Wednesday criticised the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) claiming that there is no transparency in the projects. 

Speaking at an event in Pakistan, Wells also claimed that the companies which are blacklisted by World Bank got contracts under the multi-billion project.

Wells said, there was no transparency in the CPEC projects and Pakistan's debt burden was growing due to the Chinese financing, as per the local media reports.

Wells also reiterated her warnings that it will increase cash-strapped Pakistan's debt burden and urged the country to rethink its involvement in it.

"By getting Chinese financing for the projects, Pakistan was buying expensive loans and as a buyer, it needed to be aware that what it was doing would take a heavy toll on its already struggling economy," Wells said.

Launched in 2015, CPEC is a planned network of roads, railways and energy projects linking China's resource-rich Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region with Pakistan's strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea.

The US has been critical of the CPEC. Some of the projects had already been completed but others were facing delays as Pakistan and China are working on operational and funding details.

It was launched when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan in 2015 and it now envisages investment of over $60 billion in different projects of development in Pakistan.