Thirsty Gwadar

As soon as the large reality of CPEC hove into view, water should have moved to the top of the agenda in Gwadar

Considering the importance of Gwadar port it is something of a surprise to learn that it does not have a water supply that is sufficient to the needs of a vital economic and strategic asset. The history of Pakistan and Gwadar stretches back into the mid-1950s when it was still under the suzerainty of Oman. Pakistan bought it from the Omanis for $3million in September 1958. Currently it is a key element of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and a key link along the chain of the Chinese ‘One belt one road’ and the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ projects that taken together are an undertaking of immense regional importance.

Discovering that Gwadar has a chronic shortage of potable water points to a planning deficit of almost cosmic proportions. Sticking-plaster solutions in the form of Pakistan navy water tankers sent from Karachi solve nothing long-term, and the levels in the Ankara Kaur dam have now fallen to ‘dead’ necessitating urgent meetings and further short-term solutions involving fleets of water tankers. The Chinese, who are managers of the Gwadar port, are unlikely to be viewing this latest development with equanimity. There is no rain likely in the next two months and Gwadar is an arid area known for persistent droughts. The meetings held in the last two days calling for a strategy to address the potable water problem should have been held 20 years ago, and the difficulty of water supply is emblematic of the disjunction between planning and reality, and of chronic deficits when it comes to the handling of large-scale infrastructure and economic projects nationally.

The Gwadar water problem is not new, it has been there for decades and as soon as the large reality of CPEC hove into view, water should have moved to the top of the agenda. That it did not calls into question the competencies of those managing a resource that is of global importance, and jewels may be dislodged from crowns if not firmly anchored therein.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2016.

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