GWADAR PORT DEVELOPMENT

There are reports that the Singapore Port Authority (SPA) and its junior partners the National Logistics Cell (NLC) and the AKD of Karachi had been allowed to quit the management and development accord for the Gwadar Port. The SPA officials blamed the Government for failure to transfer over 500 acres o prime land to the SPA for future development. The land is in possession of the Pakistan Navy and it failed to vacate the land, the SPA people claimed. On the other hand, the Pakistan Navy claimed that it is in possession of land since 1980—long ago the Gwadar Port planned. The Balochistan Government, according to reports offered 350 acres of state land to the SPA and rest of the land will be purchased from the open market and transfer to the SPA for developing the port. The Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping told a House Committee that the SPA had decided to quit paving the way for the Chinese to take over the Gwadar Port and develop it by spending 10 billion US dollars. It is doubtful that the Chinese will make such a huge investment on Gwadar Port in presence of the massive Western Naval armada under the leadership of the United States. The Western Armada had converted the whole Gulf of Oman and the Baloch coast as an American lake where hostile navies may not be permitted in near future. In presence of more than 60 warships, including several aircraft carriers o the USA, it will be odd for the Chinese to enter into an area where American interests are supreme and unchallengeable. Thus it is not possible that the Chinese will make any attempt to seek control of Gwadar deepwater port against the will of the Americans in the mega sensitive region of Gulf from where 44 per cent of world oil is passing through. The Federal Government and its policy makers should be blamed for the delay in developing the Gwadar Port in the region and it wasted a seven long years and undertook no development scheme to make port functional or make it economically viable. The Federal Government and the SPA had failed to invest a single penny on the port development. Even they failed to arrange fresh water and electricity for the Port. It shows lack of sincerity of the Ports and Shipping Ministry to develop Gwadar as the deep water port of the entire region. It is possible that the Federal Government had stopped any investment for development in Balochistan thus the Gwadar Port development was ignored deliberately keeping in view the hostile security climate in the Gulf region. It is possible that the SPA is also leaving the contract for the same security reasons. We have suggested in these columns that the Balochistan Government is the ideal Government institution that is capable of building and operating the Gwadar Port with the help of the international community. The Provincial Government is enjoying the goodwill of the world community and thus the Federal Government should hand over the Port, its operation, management and development to the Balochistan Government without any delay. If the Government is left at the mercy of the biased Federal bureaucracy and political leadership, Gwadar Port will not be development in a century. It is clear that the funds for construction of highways linking Gwadar Port with rest of Pakistan had been transferred and not a single penny spent on the projects for the past six years. To mention an example, the Government had allocated Rs 137 billion for highway project linked with Gwadar Port and at the end of the day; it was found that the Government had spent merely Rs seven billions. It is discriminatory meant to retard the economic development of Balochistan in a determined way.