The Chinese Government is funding the development of the Pakistan\’s Port City of Gawadar. This gives Pakistani investors money to use in the business and development sector. The idea is to make a state of the art developmental project. Therefore, the construction of unique economic zones, industrial clusters, suburban estates, leisure facilities such as a golf course, malls, and numerous modes of communication is the part of building the new city.
Is Gawadar a China Project? Or a China Pakistan Cooperation Project?
\”The Gwadar Master Plan envisions vast city and suburban avenues, shopping centres, restaurants, world-class education, and health services. It also plans to include world-class industry and business infrastructure\”. Gwadar would also have convenient global connectivity via road, rail, air, and sea. Not only this, but there would also be a cutting-edge telecommunication infrastructure linked to the Global Information Super-Highway. In brief, the Gwadar Master Plan, which runs until 2050, envisions Gwadar as a \”Global Smart City.\”
China Communications Construction Company, a Chinese corporation, designed the master plan for the port area. The Gwadar Development Authority and the Minister of Planning, Development, and Reform have also contributed to the program. The aim is to turn Gwadar into a South Asian economic centre. Further, the goal is to \”increase the GDP per capita of Gwadar to $15,000, ten times that of Pakistan.\”
The Balochs Pay a High Price for China Pakistan\’s Cooperation:
The locals are paying a high price for the port city\’s frantic growth. The city began as a sleepy fishing village populated by the Baloch minority. The city is off-limits to the Baloch people because it has been fenced off; they have no interest in its growth, don\’t profit from skyrocketing property prices, and don\’t have access to work.
Dr Zainab Akhter, the Research Analyst at, Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), says: \”The advantages of Gwadar\’s growth are not reaching the local Balochs. The locals\’ primary source of income was fisheries and rivers. Locals, on the other hand, would not be hired by the Pakistani state.\”
Pakistanis put their trust in Gwadar, ironically, not because of their own leadership, but because it is a made-in-China commodity. It was built in China, and the country is investing heavily in it. According to Zhang Baozhong, Chairman of China Overseas Ports Holding Company, which operates Gwadar Port, 43 Chinese companies will invest in the special economic zone, with 200 more registering.
Chinese firms move in and attract Pakistani investment. As a result, the Baloch people are forced out of Gawadar. Local residents are displaced from Gwadar to the suburbs of Gwadar or Karachi. The conditions in these areas are in deplorable circumstances. The Chinese fishing firms are replacing local Baloch fisheries. Consequently, the benefit is going to China or the federal government\’s port revenues.
