If our preference is for useless motorways, how can we aspire towards the take-off stage?
LAHORE: This is with reference to Ahsan Iqbal’s op-ed published on January 20, “Is Pakistan ready for a take-off?” Pakistan reached the take-off stage in the early 1960s, but then misguided governments (plutocracies) dragged the country down. If our preference is for useless motorways, restricting movement of labour and local commerce, how can we aspire towards the take-off stage?
Another example is the Gwadar port built with a Chinese loan without a feasibility report, though the failure of the nearby Chahbahar Iranian port was evident in the early 1990s. Gwadar port was functional in 1998, but the Chinese did not use it for oil or gas pipelines. Even now, China will not use it for its exports or imports because almost all of its industrial production is about 7,000 kilometres away in the coastal and delta areas in the east. Western and central China do not produce exportable surplus that will need the presence of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The cost of transportation through Khunjerab will be about $3 per container per mile, while by sea, it exports at the cost of 17 cents per container per mile. Secondly, China is exporting to Europe through its two newly built trains. The projected cost of building a new motorway, a huge international airport at Gwadar and deeper port dredging will simply go to waste. With such policies, we are nowhere near the take-off stage.
Feroz Shah Gilani
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2016.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
