Open for business

After years of sitting at the end of a long line of communication and no sign of commercial operations (there have been ‘test’ dockings) Gwadar the port has finally become active. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday 13^th November inaugurated the event that saw the first vessels from the port leave carrying cargoes that had their origins in China and Pakistan. The first convoy of trucks overland from China also arrived in Gwadar in the last week and one of White Elephants that populate the business and economic landscape may be shrinking.

The port of Gwadar is one of the key elements in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) serving as it does both the western route that links northwards to Kashgar and Tashkurgan and the eastern that goes northwards through Skardu on a link yet to be constructed. Although the Western Route of the CPEC may now be considered ‘joined up’ there are caveats not the least of these being whether it has a sufficient carrying capacity to make the route commercially viable, as well as making it an all weather road — a considerable challenge as the Karakoram highway over Kunjerab Pass is closed by snow in winter months. The security of the route has also to be tested. On this passage there were about 125 trucks southbound, a relatively small number to ensure the safety of. Increasing that number will present yet-untested security challenges. Caveats aside this remains a significant development. The CPEC was never going to be a plug-and-play option coming on-stream everywhere in the country simultaneously. It will activate over many years before becoming fully operational. The western route was always more likely to become operaitonalised first because there is a crucial ‘missing link’ on the eastern route northwards — the undeveloped-since-completion spur from the Karakoram highway that connects to Skardu. These are small beginnings but they go beyond the merely symbolic, and a significant element of CPEC is now open for business.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.