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Balochistan, a land of vast horizons and
huge economic potential
Newswatch
http://jang.com.pk
By Kaleem Omar
09-07-2006
Balochistan is a land of
vast horizons and wondrous vistas. Its coastline contains some of the most
pristine and beautiful beaches in the world. Panjgur, in the province’s
central highlands, produces dates to rival those of Basra in quality (we
have this on the authority of an early nineteenth century traveler from
Basra). ‘Tangis’ (narrow defiles) in the mountain ranges around Ziarat
debouch into spectacular gorges where the wind makes celestial music and
speaks of ancient secrets. Saindak and Rekodik, near the province’s western
border with Iran, are rich in deposits of copper, gold and silver and have
the potential to become a world-class mining centre. The province is also
rich in other minerals, including iron ore deposits near Nokundi.
But Balochistan is also Pakistan’s most neglected and backward province. Its
per capita income is the lowest in the country. So is its literacy rate and
life expectancy. There is hardly any industry in the province, except for
some factories at Hub and Vinder near Karachi. Huge chunks of the province
still lack electricity. The arid province has very few streams with constant
water flows and many people in the rural areas still depend on the ancient
system of ‘karezes’ for their water supplies.
All this could change, however, and Balochistan could become Pakistan’s new
economic frontier within the next decade or so if all the development
schemes that are now underway or in the planning stage in the territory and
other parts of the country, as well as in the surrounding region, start
gelling together and become a reality.
One of the key elements in realising this dream has to do with what is
happening in western China today. In 2002 Beijing announced plans to spend $
250 billion on infrastructure projects in western China over the next ten
years and another $ 250 billion in bank loans to industry and commercial
enterprises to boost economic growth in the region.
China’s eastern seaboard is 3,500 km from Kashgar, western China’s main
city, whereas the distance from Kashgar to Gwadar, on Balochistan’s Makran
coast, is only 1,500 km. Given this fact, there is an obvious huge cost
advantage to China using Gwadar as the gateway port for the western China
region instead of its far-off eastern-seaboard ports.
This explains China’s interest in helping Pakistan to develop Gwadar into a
full-fledged commercial port, capable of handling cargo ships of up to
50,000 tons or more. Beijing gave Pakistan $ 198 million in aid to build the
port’s $ 250 million first phase and has agreed in principle to provide $
500 million in aid for the second phase. Work on the first phase has been
completed. Work on the second phase is due to begin later this year.
Gwadar has been connected to Karachi by a coastal highway built by the
Pakistan Army’s Frontier Works Organisation for the National Highway
Authority, and plans are underway to build a south-north highway linking
Gwadar — via the RCD Highway and the Indus Highway — to the Karakoram
Highway and western China. The Pakistan government has recently announced
plans to build a Rs 50 billion railway line linking Gwadar to Kashgar. China
has agreed to give Pakistan $ 350 million in aid to widen and upgrade the
Karakoram Highway to make it into an all-weather road capable of handling
heavy truck traffic.
Beijing and Islamabad have also signed a memorandum of understanding under
which China would build a 90-km highway-link connecting the Chinese side of
the KKH to the Russian-built highway network that already connects all the
five Central Asian Republics of the former Soviet Union.
Once all the missing elements of the highway network are in place, there
will be a direct overland route linking Pakistan, China and Central Asia.
This route will connect the new port of Gwadar to western China and the
landlocked Central Asian Republics, thus making it unnecessary for Pakistan
to build a highway link to Central Asia through war-torn Afghanistan.
Pakistan would reap enormous economic benefits from this alternate overland
trade route. All the export and import trade of these six countries could
then flow through Gwadar, earning Pakistan hundreds of millions of dollars a
year in port charges, bunkering charges, stevedoring fees, cargo-handling
charges and other imposts.
Pakistan’s road transport industry would earn millions of dollars a year in
freight charges for carrying import cargoes from Gwadar to the Central Asian
Republics and western China and export goods from those countries to Gwadar
for shipment to international markets.
Also, Pakistan’s own export trade with these countries could receive a
significant boost once the new highway links come into operation. Some
export commodities and goods from western Punjab and southern NWFP destined
for Gulf countries as well as some imports from those countries destined for
Pakistan could also be routed through Gwadar, rather than only through the
more distant port of Karachi. Among other things, this would help Pakistan
to achieve significant foreign currency savings in sea-freight charges.
Overland trade between neighbouring Iran and Pakistan would also be boosted
by the coastal highway linking southwestern Balochistan to Karachi and the
proposed highway connecting Gwadar to Khuzdar and points farther north in
Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan. In short, there would then be a
whole network of link-highways carrying a huge range of commodities and
goods through the Pakistan-Iran-Central Asian-western China region.
Pakistan has also offered to extend the proposed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline
to energy-deficient western China. China is now the world’s second biggest
importer of crude oil, much of which is imported from the Gulf countries.
Pakistan has offered to transport Chinese oil imports from the Gulf to
western China, with Gwadar serving as the gateway port for these imports.
This energy corridor can also be extended to Central Asia, as proposed by
President Pervez Musharraf at last month’s summit meeting of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation.
The local population of the Balochistan coastal region and other parts of
the province would benefit significantly from all the economic activity
involved in creating this infrastructure. These benefits would flow not only
from thousands of jobs for locals with companies and government agencies
engaged in the construction programmes but also from the numerous indigenous
vendor industries, firms and individual enterprises that would emerge to
supply local goods and services to these companies and agencies.
After the port, highway network, rail link and other infrastructure
facilities are built, the local population would also get plenty of
opportunities for permanent employment with private firms and government
departments that would be involved in operating and maintaining these
facilities.
When we, in Pakistan, talk of the growth potential of future overland trade
between the countries of this region, we are not talking about small
quantities of cargo but of trade volumes that are likely to grow into
millions upon millions of tons of commodities and goods.
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