Commercial Geography

CHAPTER 24: TRANSPORT

MEANS OF TRANSPORT: The efficient means of transport play an important part in the expansion
and growth of economic and trading activities of a country. There are many means of transport in
the world:

1. Land transport: Roads and Rail roads

2. Air transport
3. Water transport: River transport and Sea transport
4. Pipeline transport

LAND TRANSPORT:

In Pakistan roads can be divided into two categories:

1. Metallic roads PUCCA Road

2. Non-metallic Road KUCHA ROAD

Metallic roads:

These roads are made up of Technical and supplementary type of roads. These are smooth and level
roads mainly found in the urban areas of Pakistan. These roads provide comfortable journey. They
are fast efficient and used for the transportation of manufactured goods and passengers.

Metallic roads can be divided into five types:

a) Street roads: Connect the streets of all areas of the district.

b) District roads: Connect All district to CBD i.e. Central business district.
c) National Highways: National Highways pass from cities and connect the CBD of a city to the CBD
of other cities like Shara-e-Faisal, Grand Trunk Road.
d) Superhighways: Superhighways cannot connect one City to another without passing from the
cities like the motorways Indus Highway it connects Karachi to Lahore via Hyderabad,
Nawabshah, Larkana, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan and Faisalabad. The road which connect Lahore
to Peshawar via Islamabad is called the GT (Grand Trunk) Road.
e) Motorways: It is a fast and efficient link between two cities. These Run parallel to the super
Highway but much faster and wider than the superhighway motorway provide a number of
facilities like mosques, hotels, motels, workshops, public washrooms, Police Stations, fuel
stations, clinics etc.

ADVANTAGES OF MOTORWAYS:

We can take a number of benefits from motorways.

 Road transport is more quick and efficient.

 Industrial Estates could be established on its routes.
 It would promote industrial growth by supplying raw material to the industries and
manufactured goods to the market.
 Industrial extension would open up employment opportunities for the people.
 The motorways could be further connected to the Central Asian countries via Afghanistan. This
would increase foreign trade. Recently China is building CPEC which would connect Gwader with
other cities of Pakistan with China and later with other Central Asian countries.
 Many new settlements could be established.

The motorway is divided into five sections:

1. Islamabad to Lahore M-2 (completed)
2. Islamabad to Peshawar M-1 (completed)
3. Pindi Bhattiyan to Faisalabad M-3(completed)
4. Karachi to Hyderabad M-9 (recently completed)
5. Karachi to Gwadar also known as Makran coastal highway (completed)

MAIN ROADS OF PAKISTAN:

1. The N-5: The National Highway-Grand Truck Road: It is 1260 km long road from Karachi to
Lahore to Turkham. It is the longest road of Pakistan with many connecting towns.
a. The National Highway: The N-5 is a called the National Highway from Karachi to Lahore
coving the Indus Plain of Sindh and the Punjab.
b. The Grand Trunk Road: The N-5 connects Lahore to Peshawar has got great historical
importance. It is now a dual road with connects all major cities of northern Punjab with KPK.
2. The Indus Highway: It is 1204 km long road on the west of River Indus. It connects Karachi to
Peshawar via Kotri, Dadu, Larkana, D.G.Khan and D.I.Khan. It is a shorter distance from Karachi
to Peshawar as compared to N-5.
3. The RCD Highway: It is a 600 km long road from Karachi to Quetta connecting all major towns of
Balochistan.
4. Lahore-Quetta Route 50 : It connects Lahore with Faisalabad and then from a bridge at Dera
Ismail Khan it connects Derajat (KPK) and goes to Zhob and then Quetta. The Punjab part is
heavily used.
5. Sukkur-Quetta Route 65: It connects Sukkur with Quetta via Jacobabad, Sibi and Bolan Pass.
6. Karakoram Highway: It was called as Silk Road and was later completed in 1984 as Karakoram
Highway. It connects Pakistan’s northern areas with Kashgar (China) through Khunjerab Pass. It
has been under new development with the name of CPEC.
7. Karachi-Gwadar: The Coastal Highway connects Karachi to Gwadar via Hub, Sonmiani, Ormara,
Pasni and other coastal towns. This road is not fully developed and metallic at all connecting
towns.

RAILWAYS:

Pakistan has a poor railway network. It is mostly found in Punjab followed by Sindh and in few areas
of K.P.K in Balochistan there only one railway line. It is present in Northern Balochistan which is
connecting Quetta to Taftan (Iranian border). Railway lines are not present in the northern areas of
Pakistan.

Problems of Pakistan Railways:

 Lack of investment.
 Worn out rail and Sleeper.
 Operational inefficiencies in timing.
 Over staffing and corruption.
 Uneconomic and less profitable stations.
 A poor reservation system.
 The presence of single track on a short segment of the main double line which has severely
affected the running of more one train at a time.
 Slow speed of trains due to poor tracking.

DRY PORTS: Some inland cities which are away from seaports, build places or junctions connected
to rail and road to carry internal and foreign trade without any delay. Major dry ports in Pakistan are
Sambrial (Sialkot), Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Quetta and
Peshawar.
These dry ports not only provide more trading facilities abut also reduce the work of checking and
clearance of cargo at the seaport.

AIR TRANSPORT:

Importance of air transportation:

 Air transport is more effective for low volume and high value goods that need to be more
quickly like Roses and other flowers from Pakistan to Dubai or to France, perishable items
(fruits) etc.
 It is highly effective for the people who value time and can afford the high fares. They prefer to
travel by all like high posted officials of multinational companies etc.
 It is a source of cultural diffusion as it connects areas of far distance with each other.
 Foreign delegation especially Ambassador also move by air from one country to another in order
to improve relation between the countries.
 Improvement in communication has turned the world into a global village with more passengers
from all walks of life. Example include people using air transport for going on Hajj meeting
relatives abroad.
 Roads and railway network are not found in the Northern mountain but PIA’s air routes are
found in far flung areas like Gilgit, Skardu making These areas more accessible.
 Air transport is also very useful for rescue operation especially in the remote areas which are
not connected with cities by road and Railway.

PAKISTAN’S MAIN AIRPORTS:

a. International Airports:
 Jinnah International Karachi: the most important and the busiest airport of Pakistan. A big
number of passengers and tons of cargo is handled by a number of domestic and international
airlines.
 Allama Iqbal International, Lahore: the third busiest airport with a number of destinations
connected to all around the world.
 New Islamabad International Airport: The most unique, state of the art and well equipped
airport of the country completed recently in 2018. Can handle the biggest aircrafts with all
facilities.
 Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Rawalpindi: was the second busiest airport before the New
Islamabad International Airport was inaugurated.
 Bacha Khan Airport, Peshawar.
 Sialkot International Airport.
 Multan International Airport.
 Faisalabad International Airport.
 Quetta International Airport.
 Sheikh Zayed International Airport, Rahim Yar Khan.
 Gwadar International Airport (not fully operational, under construction, a CPEC project)
 Turbat International Airport.

b. Domestic Airports (medium and small): Hyderabad, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Larkana (Sindh),
Mianwali, Bahwalpur and Sargodha (Punjab), Kohat, D.I.Khan, Bannu (KPK), Gwadar, Pasni,
Panjgor, Jiwani, Zhob (Balochistan) and Chitral, Skardu, Gilgit (Gilgit-Baltistan)

WATER TRANSPORT

There are two means of water transport:

1. Sea transport
2. River transport

1.SEA TRANSPORT: This is the slowest and the cheapest mode of transport. It carries heavy and
bulky items. More than 90% trade of Pakistan depends upon sea transport through seaports.
Seaports is the backbone for the economy of any country. There are three major seaports in
Pakistan.

Keamari Port and Port Qasim are located in Sindh coastal belt in Karachi and Gwadar Port is
located in Makran coastal belt.

a.KEAMARI PORT: The port is located to the west of the Indus delta on the Arabian Sea at Karachi. It
is Deep water natural seaport with a long approach channel and can received tankers and
containers in bulk and general cargo ships. It is also a natural harbor sheltered by the island of
Keamari and break water at Manora. This decreases the turbulence and provides calm water for
the easy handling of cargo ships.

It is a number of wharves. A wharf is a landing stage for ships which provided loading and
unloading facilities. There are two wharves in Keamari Port. Eastern wharf and western wharf. The
Eastern wharf has 17 different wharves which can different commodities like raw materials, with
heavy machines and liquid items etc.

b. Port Qasim: It is located 20 km southern of Karachi developed at Gharo Greek. It is Pakistan 2nd
deep sea port. It has modern machinery to relieve the pressure on the Karachi port and for
handling raw material for Pakistan Steel. It is the first integrated sport of Pakistan. It combines the
function of multipurpose deep sea port and a designated industrial zone. It also offers transports
and other infrastructure facilities for Industrial development. Some industries which are located in
this zone are chemical, fertilizer, cotton textile and steel mill etc. The major categories of cargo
handled at Port Qasim include iron, coal, grains, edible oil, LPG, containers jute and fertilizers.
c. Gwadar Port: It is located in the Makran Coast in the south of Balochistan. The project was
started by China in 2001. The idea of constructing a deep water sea port at Gwadar was to
decrease the pressure on Keamari Port and to increase trading with America, South Africa, UAE
and European countries. It will also land lock country like Afghanistan and Central Asian States by
providing credit facilities.