Under the short-term plan, Islamabad and Beijing want to develop Gwadar Port, whose control had already been given to China, in a bid to attract investment in different sectors. PHOTO: FILE
In a strategic move, Pakistan and China are set to make headway towards developing a master plan for Gwadar Port as part of an economic corridor that envisages investment of $12 billion by Beijing.
Officials of the two countries will take up the matter during talks in Beijing on February 17, where Pakistan’s team will be led by Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, officials say.
As part of the economic corridor that will turn Pakistan into a hub of regional cooperation, Gwadar Port will be connected through road, rail and fibre links to China to help enhance trade between the two countries.
Oil and gas pipelines are also part of the economic corridor over the long run, which is expected to provide a much-needed boost to economic activities in insurgency-hit Balochistan, according to the officials.
Under the short-term plan, Islamabad and Beijing want to develop Gwadar Port, whose control had already been given to China, in a bid to attract investment in different sectors to make it a hub of economic activities. Under this plan, an oil city will be set up at the port to meet fuel needs.
However, the United States and India are not pleased with the handing over of Gwadar Port to China, which will enhance its presence in the sea.
The government is also looking to revive the abandoned Coastal Oil Refinery at Gwadar, a project that had been shelved by China in 2009-10 after operations of the port were handed over to the Singapore Port Authority. A global recession compounded the problems, providing another reason to shelve the project.
The refinery, designed to have a maximum output of 60,000 barrels of oil per day, is part of China’s plan to invest $12 billion in multiple projects in Pakistan.
Oil pipeline
Officials pointed out that the oil and gas pipelines depended on normalisation of relations between the US and Iran.
Though Iran supplies oil and gas to Turkey, China and India, the US is piling on the pressure on Pakistan to stop it from importing energy from Tehran. Experts describe it an attempt to push Pakistan towards economic collapse due to acute energy shortages.
The PML-N government, which took over in June last year, has already offered Beijing to lay an oil pipeline from Gwadar to western China – a move that will allow the latter to diversify and safeguard crude oil import routes.
Officials suggested that the oil pipeline could later be linked with Iran, which had already offered to build a pipeline from its territory to Gwadar for the transport of crude oil.
During the previous government’s tenure, Iran had also expressed its willingness to set up an oil refinery at Gwadar Port with a production capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.
Officials pointed out that Gwadar Port was quite close to the Persian Gulf through which nearly 40% of world’s oil supply flows. China meets 50% of oil demand through imports from the Middle East. The supply line to China runs over the 10,000km Dubai-Shanghai-Urumqi ocean route.
“The crude oil processed and refined at the Gwadar oil refinery can be exported to Urumqi through the shortest possible route, which is Dubai-Gwadar-Urumqi spanning over 3,600 km. For this, an oil pipeline will be laid through the energy corridor up to western China via Karakoram Highway/Khunjrab Bypass,” an official said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 15th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (22)
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hav u got any rational reason to justify ur infallibility in my forementioned issues?
@Bakhtiyar Ghazi Khan: And if we don't give you Kashmir what do you think you will do to us? We have no intention of giving an inch of of our land to you or anyone else. Only Pakistan would lease own territory to a foreign power so they can then operate drones out of that leased land bomb Pakistan territory. That is exactly where this leasing to Chinese thing is going.
Any other country would have negotiated a development plan/financial commitment BEFORE giving the port to the Chinese.
@Jag Nathan: If you are so concerned about Pakistan's territory. Give back Kashmir and its Muslim lands to Pakistan. We won't ask for Hyderabad, Deccan, UP, Bihar, Assam, Junagadh, Ferozpur, or Lakshadweep, although those are Muslim lands and our right also under the Treaty of Partition.
@vicky Shah: I give you Osama Bin Laden, Dawood Ibrahim, Mullah Omar and every other global terrorist. How they can live in Pakistan is anybody's guess. Enough said. It is easy to play the victim but very difficult to own up.
Hi @vicky Shah, U ran away..from dhaka to eat indian daal roti. U ran away..to president Clinton to ruin his 4th of july. U ran away..from a one paying customer to another..to another... to another..british, usa, saudia china....
One more piece of Pakistani real estate parceled off to a foreign power. Shamsi Air Base, part of Kashmir.,some of the best agricultural lands all now in the hands of pretty foreigners. And Pakistanis cry about foreigners meddling in their affairs. You allow foreign powers to establish and control your real estate, they will meddle in your affairs and control your destiny. A lesson never learned by Pakistanis. The next face of servitude starts today.
The realisation of the plan maybe questionable as the present unrest and resentment is a culmination of decades of exploitation of the ppl and it's resources. Yes they get excited if someone else puts up the money, but has shown their own lack of interest for the port until China came on the scene,if the project was of such importance as they make us believe. It will be of huge benefit commercially, but not to balochi Stan and it' ppl.
Plans are cheap. China will plan and plan but when it comes to putting up the money watch the Chinese fade away.
@Indian
Worry about your own house son. 2/3 of your country is in tense insurgent lines. We are here after 4 wars with you and we will be here till the final day on this earth.
Your shining India is a dump underneath. Go and focus there instead of visiting our sites otherwise we will break your country into Khalistan, Kashmir, Mao's, Bengal, Tamil and Naxal portions.
Indian deep water port at chahbahr would soon surpass this backwater gwader mini port. And these dreams can never come true as Baluchistan is a few years away from independence.
@Notatroll:
Things are already in progress, slowly but surely the momentum is building up.
regards,
This will not be first or last time we will read such headlines about Gwadar ?..........its STILL ONLY ALL TALK.
This is going to pay massive dividends when China really does become a fully fledged superpower, and the renminbi replaces the US dollar as the world reserve currency.
I am a die hard PTI voter, but does not mean that we have to oppose everything PMLN does.
This will be an outstanding achievement of the Govt. Hope Allah bless us with success.
Excellent step. As an economist, I can tell you regional integration is the quickest way to progress. Think about the US if its states didnt trade with each other or the EU. Well thats Pakistan right now since we dont trade with India or Iran and are not maximizing our trade with China or Afghanistan or Central Asian republics. Hopefully economic progress will help Pakistan put its house in order in all ways. When people see some progress, they will stop their ideological battles since they will see progress as achievable, something not true right now.
Great to see that Gwader will reach its full potential with a new master plan.
good step ... regarding "the United States and India are not pleased with the handing over of Gwadar Port to China" if the govt is going to budge then all we can say is that ... yes continue pleasing USA at the expense of our own interest, whatever happened to the Pakistan First slogan, will it only be used to kill Pakistanis and not to protect them?!