Gwadar is emerging as the new business and trade hub in the region replacing Dubai and other Gulf states due to its strategic location. The port is situated 540 kilometres off Karachi and was built at the cost of $248 million in 2007 with technical and financial assistance from Beijing. Though Pakistan and China are adamant to go ahead with their plan to develop the port city, but the countries, which are looking it as a threat to their economies, will not sit idle and will try to sabotage the whole scheme of affairs. As a ground reality, India is the only country which has openly opposed the construction of the economic corridor, but there are hidden enemies or frenemies who have started clandestine moves to fan terrorism and insurgency in Balochistan. Both Pakistan and China needs to make close assessment of the situation, especially at a time when the Pakistani government is going to sign a deal with a Chinese company to develop a special economic zone in Gwadar as part of an ambitious $46 billion investment plan, covering much publicized China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as well as infrastructure, energy and transport projects.
According to the world media reports, China Overseas Port Holding Company will be tasked with developing a 2300-acre tax-free zone in Gwadar, which will be linked with Kashgar through the economic corridor. The land will cost the Balochistan government $62 million. Meanwhile, another plan is also in the pipeline to build Gwadar International Airport. The work on this project will start in the next two months and the national highway, which will connect Gwadar with north part of the country, will be completed next month. The reports also suggest that the government is setting up a special force, consisting of at least 25,000 personnel to protect the port.
The economic corridor has the strategic value for both Pakistan and China and it is not against the interests of any third country. China has already started ambitious projects in various other countries, but the economic corridor is being regarded as a game changer which will usher an era of infrastructural growth and investment in the country. It is the time for the political leadership to look into the perils of corruption and mismanagement which have the potential to bulldoze any project of national importance. If left alone, the market forces take their own course of action, which can have good or bad results. Therefore, the writ of the government should have to be implemented to protect business and investment from the forces of hostilities.
