ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China are trying to complete the development of strategic Gwadar Deep Seaport ahead of schedule.

Liu Huaiyuan, President of China Harbour Engineering Corporation (CHEC), met Shaukat Aziz, Adviser on Finance here on Monday to discuss related issues. "Given the strategic importance of the port, the government of Pakistan desires its early completion," stated an official announcement after the meeting.

The visit of CHEC team was a follow-up of recent meetings in Beijing during the visit of Prime Minister Jamali. There were reports that Chinese were very keen to expedite the pace of development, as it offered excellent opportunities of trade, and strategic depth, with the Central Asia, Gulf, Afghanistan and other regional states.

Liu assured the government that CHEC had mobilised all resources to achieve timely completion of the phase-I. There were reports that two sides were interested in expanding some of the infrastructure on an early date, due to strategic point of view.

According to a press note of the Ministry of Finance, the Asian Development Bank was coordinating convening of a conference of Central Asian States, including Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to facilitate construction of the port-related infrastructure, effectively linking Gwadar with other regional countries to promote transit trade.

The first phase of the Gwadar port at a cost of Rs 14.905 billion ($250 million) was being built with the Chinese assistance, valuing Rs 8 billion as foreign exchange component. Opposite to the Straits of Hormuz and on the mouth of the Gulf, Gwadar Deep Seaport is of a great strategic importance. It can provide port, warehousing, trans-shipment, and industrial facilities for trade with over 20 countries.

To exploit the real potential of the port multi-billion dollar investment would be required over the next few years. Gwadar Port project would also provide much more options to the Pakistan Navy, as it was 234 nautical miles away from Karachi, and could alleviate threat of naval blockade in case of any eventuality in the region.

Experts believe that even one Agosta 90B submarine deployed at Gwadar could defend the port due to its geographic advantage. Given the resource constraint and existing investment climate, huge investment on a port was always going to be an ambitious thinking. However, Chinese involvement, with support through soft financing facilities could facilitate the process.

In trade terms, some estimates suggest that maritime traffic in Pakistan would increase three-fold in the next decade. The existing two ports of Karachi and Bin Qasim would not be enough to handle this increasing traffic. At present 98 per cent cargo traffic goes through the Karachi port. Despite some ongoing modernisation and development operations at the Karachi port, the fact that it was the only main sea route served as a disadvantage from strategic point of view.

In case of a regional conflict, this limitation could effectively choke the whole sea traffic of the country. In this context, Gwadar Port was of great significance. The port was also economical, in terms of accesses to maritime trade for the northern region of Pakistan.

Establishment of industrial zone, oil storage and refining facilities adjacent to the Port, and export possibility of abundant mineral resources of Balochistan, particularly from Saindak Copper-Gold Project, makes it more attractive. The Saindak project had also been leased out to a Chinese firm.

There was a huge scope of trans-shipment, handling of dry and liquid cargo and development of new container terminals at Gwadar. The government, with the help of Chinese authorities, and through active participation of the private sector, plans to develop new Container Terminal, Dry Bulk Cargo Terminal, Grain Terminal, Oil Terminals and deep channel dredging facilities. There was a possibility of seeking private sector investment on Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis, or BOT basis for future expansion plans.

Plz pray,
Sardarzada

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God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife....