Gwardar Port warrants devotion

EDITORIAL: THE FRONTIER POST

Pakistan on Monday formally awarded to China a multi-billion dollars contract for the operation of the Gwadar Port and the building of infrastructure around it. Thus the state-owned China Overseas Port Holding Company took control of the strategic port in signing ceremony held in Aewan-i-Sadr, Islamabad. Under the contract, the port will remain the property of Pakistan but will be operated by the state-run Chinese company. Earlier, the contract was given to the Port of Singapore Authority that abandoned the project on the plea that Pakistan failed to meet obligations under the 40-year port-handling agreement signed in Feb 2007. The PSA, which was to spend $525 million on the project in five years, made no investment because of non-fulfillment of its demands for allotment of land worth Rs15 billion. Sadly enough, lethargy of the rulers to do what they promised in the contract signed with the PSA has wasted yet another five years of the nation desperately waiting new vistas of progress in Pakistan particularly poverty-ridden Balochistan. The decision to hand over the Gwadar Port to China, in fact, rectifies the wrongdoing of the Pakistan Government when it preferred the PSA over the Chinese interest. China is a time-tested friend more importantly a next door neighbour and a natural regional ally of Pakistan having keen interest to build short and cheep routes to meet its energy and maritime needs. But the port fell to the PSA perhaps the then rulers succumbed under the USA pressure hence committed one of the many follies the nation has witnessed. The latest decision of the Government to transfer the concession agreement from the Port of Singapore Authority to the Chinese company may change the destiny of the people of Balochistan even it may give a potential naval base that ultimately will make Pakistan’s defense impregnable. That may well be the reason that India and the USA are apprehensive over the transfer of the control and management of the deep-sea port to China, which had interests in ports encircling India. Regardless of the concerns and interests that the international forces have, the transfer and subsequently the development of the Gwadar Port will bring tangible benefits to Pakistan and China and contribute to peace‚ stability and development of the region, forming a part of greater framework of economic cooperation between the two states. To make the dream come true, Pakistani leadership needs to show greater maturity, dedication, honesty and commitment to the development in Balochistan particularly, that earlier was missing. The governments in Balochistan and the federal capital Islamabad now must show some urgency to allot much-needed land for the Gwadar Port and build the roads that Pakistan has to build under the agreement. Otherwise, even the Chinese take-over may meet the fate that the PSA met due to the inability of Pakistan. During era of Ms Benazir Bhutto, a Fish Harbour cum Mini Port was built at Gwadar that ultimately became the stepping stone for the Gwadar deep seaport. In 1993, Pakistan started feasibility studies for the development of a major deepwater seaport at Gwadar. The port project commenced on 22 March 2002 with the first phase completed in December 2005. Unfortunately, even today the provision of clean drinking water is non-existent there. Similarly, the construction of the port that spurred other major infrastructure projects that include Makran Coastal Highway, Ormara-Pasni-Gwadar road leading up to the Iranian border, Gwadar-Quetta-Chaman road and a link road to the town of Khuzdar in eastern Balochistan etc but the lackluster interest of the political leadership in the development of the Balochistan has kept the province backward or underdeveloped hence is more prone to extremism for which the nation is paying a huge price. China has paid about 75 per cent of the initial $250m used to build the port, thus soon it will take over the Gwadar Port but the question remains whether Pakistan lives up its commitment in raising infrastructure connecting the Gwadar Port with the rest of the country. Mere signing of the MoUs with China or anybody else is just neither enough nor is going to serve the interests of Pakistan and its people. For sure, the strategic importance of the Gwadar Port holds the key to bringing together Central Asian countries and China, integrating the economies of the countries in the region, Pakistan can benefit from China’s takeover of Gwadar, if it really stresses on the development of the connecting roads and expands Karakoram Highway that still needs to be finished. The Gwadar Port development deserves special attention to serve the interest of the country first.