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11. Despite the requirements and pressing needs of the country, the
importance of such a natural gift of coastal belt could not be realized until
70s, when a complex idea of establishing a port in Baluchistan was floated
for the first time. This idea failed to get any support till 80s. But in the
beginning of 90s with the demise of USSR and independence of new
Central Asian states. This idea attracted the notice of our policy makers,
and they prepared a proposal regarding construction of a deep-sea port in
Baluchistan. The proposal was tabled in the meeting of federal cabinet
on 9th Jan 1991, and a detailed feasibility report was ordered. The
process remained in cold storage for two years. In 1993 a committee
was formed with senior technical persons in chair, after thorough analysis
they agreed to the proposed site of Gwadar. Consequently the federal
cabinet approved the final project on 30 October,1995. In persuasion of
the decision another Committee under Minister of Communication
popularly known as Gwader Implementation Committee (GIC) was
formed. It did the main solution work of the project and forwarded
modalities of the project in a comprehensive document in December 1995.
G I C forwarded the
FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT the report
described that Gwadar is a small fishing town of about 50,000
people. It has a small international airport, and a fair-weather
road tract, which connects it to Karachi through coastal towns.
Gwadar is located on a tombola, formed by a natural headland
and is connected to the hinterland by a sandpit. The headland
stretches East to West for about 13 km with a maximum width
of about 3 Km. The East and West bays created by the
natural configuration are sufficiently protected from the
southwest monsoon waves. The behavior of sea experienced
over the years show that the East bay is more protected as
compared to the West Bay.
13. Considering the poor Economic state of the country, and realizing
the fact that Port construction is an expensive business, in March1996
GIC recommended the Economic Support And Technical details in
following manner:
18. Regarding the financial issues a grant amounting 100 million US$
was offered. China also committed a state loan of 48 million US$. While
Pakistan was asked to invest an equity of 50 million US$, and is also to
provide tax -free import of the relevant material.
20. Gentle man To support the infra structure of this huge project, A
competent net work of Associated Road/ Railway Linkages is also
required. Presently the road link between Gwadar and hinterland is
almost non- existent. As part of the Government's commitment to develop
this port, three highways have also been planned and designed; they will
link Gwadar to the rest of Pakistan and the Central Asian states.
Makran Coastal Road will link Gwadar to Karachi in the east, and towns
of Jiwani and Gadb on Pak-Iranian border in the west. This will be a two-
lane 780 km long road. Government has also taken up the construction
of 925-km long 4-lane Expressway to link Gwadar to Ratodero on the
Indus National Highway. The road will pass through Turbat, Awaran,
Khuzdar and Shahbadkot it will initially be two lanes road and will be
converted to four lanes with the growth of traffic. Work on this part of the
road is in progress and the road on completion would provide a direct link
from Gwadar to Northern Pakistan.
22. G M The estimated cost for the road construction are shown on this
view foil
GEO-STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE
24. During the end of cold war era the Geo strategic location of this area
gained massive importance. President Carter in 1980, after Soviet
occupation of Afghanistan and perceiving a threat within 300 miles of the
Strait of Hormuz presented his famous Carter doctrine and said, An
attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will
be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States and
such an assault will be repelled by any means, including military force.
United States also realized that what it would be like if the Soviet Union
gained control of southern Pakistan. The soviets will build air and naval
bases at the ports of Karachi and Gwadar and the other ports astride the
sea-lanes leading from the Gulf. This will largely nullify American sea
power in that area and place the oil shipment to the United States and its
friends in jeopardy. To avoid such situation United States unwillingly
offered Pakistan a military aid of 3 billion US$ and offered state of the art
military equipment.
26. Development of a new port at Gwadar will not only provide a trade
route to Central Asian Republics but will go a long way in the ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT OF PAKISTAN. Gwadar port will enhance the TRADE
POTENTIAL of the country. The land locked Central Asian Republics
have a consumer market of 70 million people, and has a vast export
potential in the field of petroleum, mineral resources and raw materials of
diverse nature. The Cargo Generation as worked according to the
available data, which may flow through Gwadar, shows a very
encouraging figures. The World Bank estimated the trade forecast of
Uzbekistan for 1992, which was about one million Rubbles, or 4,000
Tones of material. Assuming that this relationship holds true for the other
states also, the total volume of trade that may flow through Gwadar Port
will be approx. 1.5 million Tones. Or will have a value of 280 million US
Dollars, with an expected growth rate of 1.4% annually. . The CARs are
moving towards free market economy, and are concentrating on
development of trade and investment promotion
27. This project will also help in establishing a modern and major
INDUSTRIAL NETWORK along Gwadar and the proposed roads. The
industry, which is typical to the port vicinity like fisheries, ship building etc
will also flourish The economic benefits of sea come in the shape of both
LIVING AND NON LIVING RESOURCES. Living resources Like Fish
is available in abundance in the Arabian sea and is considered as one of
the most productive in the world. It has an estimated biomass of 10
million tons, where as our catch averages is just.4 Lac tons per year
Viewing economically, despite under utilization, the export of fish and fish
products have earned a total foreign exchange of 4.7 billion rupees.
28. At present Pakistan has three fish harbors, and those are located at
Karachi, Pasni and Gwadar. The Karachi fish harbor is over crowded,
whereas the fish harbour of Pasni and Gwadar are not fully operational
owing to various reasons, such as, non availability of required power
supply for cold storage and non existence of coastal road infrastructure.
Secondly the coastal fishing area extends up to 100-meter depth contour,
which run approximately 50 km off shore in an area of about 8,000 sq. km.
The existing small and primitive fishing fleet is in a bad condition and this
state gets further aggravated due to lack of navigation/ communications
equipment. Fishing activity is therefore restricted to 20-meter depth
within 20 km of shore in fair weather only. Development work in coastal
areas will address these problems.
30. A survey carried out of our area during 1985 by experts from US,
OGDC and petro-Canada for international development and revealed a
promising potential for Oil & Gas. The Geological experts have
estimated vast hydrocarbon resources. The estimate of the deposit is 10-
100 trillion cu feet of natural gas, 10 -100 billion barrels of oil is present in
our continental shelf. Gas seeps have also been discovered on land all
along the Makran coast.
31. For years to come, Pakistan will reap the benefits through
development of these resources. The communication network will
connect the vast reserves of Sandak to the port and whole country. This
network will also provide an easy access to the far-flung areas of
Baluchistan and will thus help in Oil and Gas exploration
33. Pakistan presently relies on only one port complex for its imports
and exports. Port Qasim within close proximity is considered part of the
same. It is beyond any doubt that a single base or port complex is more
vulnerable to enemy threat. The problem is further compounded when
the only port complex is within easy strike range of the enemy. Keeping
Pakistans geography and Indian hegemonic designs in view, moving
westward will make the Indian threat less ominous, as it will keep the
ships out of Indian missile boats range and will also reduce air threat
comparatively. Karachi due to its closeness is also susceptible to enemy
mining, thereby blockading the only harbour. One of the tasks of the
Pakistan Navy is to keep the SLOCs open, with availability of Gwadar as
deep-water port; the tasks of the Navy will become relatively easier.
ANALYSIS
(c) The biggest draw back of Karachi port is that the Karachi
harbour, Shipyard and Pakistan Naval installations are co-located in
close vicinity, which makes it a lucrative military target, and thus the
only port complex of Pakistan remains under a constant threat of
blocked or attack. Construction of Gwader port will not only provide
a strategic and tactical depth to Pakistan Navy, but will also
drastically reduce Indian submarine threat to our high value units.
CONCLUSION