The view of the Arabian Sea from Gwadar’s only five-star hotel located on the Koh-e-Batil Hill is stunning. The front of the ship-shaped multi-storey structure faces the expanding city beneath, and slightly to the right, the orange cranes of Gwadar Port.
The buzz here these days comes in sharp contrast to the mood from a few years ago, when the hotel was shut because there were hardly any visitors. The Gwadar property bubble had already burst. The mad rush of investors had fizzled out.
But the announcement of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in April 2015, revived hopes for Gwadar, and with it the hotel’s fortunes. The occupancy rate shot up. Government and business leaders started arriving to discuss the future of this forgotten fishing village. A growing number of Chinese businessmen and Pakistani property dealers have since made new multi-million dollar deals here.
The city currently needs 6.3 mgd of water, but it hardly gets about 2.7 mgd from the nearby Ankara Kaur Dam. But water reservoirs rely on rainfall. During the last few years, Balochistan's coastal Makran region has been water stressed due to insufficient rains
From the luxurious high-security surroundings of the five-star hotel, the promise of Gwadar as the future smart port city of Pakistan appears real. But take a drive down the hill to the city centre and it becomes clear why many still remain sceptical.
The old town, with its narrow dirt streets, overflowing sewerage and heaps of rubbish, looks like any other neglected town of Balochistan. A dysfunctional municipal system and lack of basic social services make life miserable for many here.
“They are building new roads. They’ve been saying this place will be like Dubai or Europe,” M. Saleem, a fish trader along the scenic West Bay tells me. “But what’s in it for us? We are living the way we always have: without water, electricity and gas.”
Clearly, for the 250,000 or so people of Gwadar, the fruits of progress have yet to ripen. So far, they appear to be silent spectators of the massive changes taking place around them.
What they have seen over the last few years instead is a steady bloom in militarisation of Gwadar. Security forces man numerous check posts at all entry and exit points into the city. Uniformed snipers posted atop the mountain keep an eye on any suspicious movement. Navy and coast guard boats now strictly regulate the traditional free movement of fishermen.
Abbas Waara is one of Gwadar’s oldest boatbuilders. He was a boy when he joined the family trade. “This is all we have ever known,” he tells me. “But now it’s all going to change!”
He says he’s not against development. “I want my grandchildren to have the opportunities I never had—to get an education, to have a future,” he says. But, the local community doesn’t figure much in the government’s grand scheme of things. “I fear that at some point we will be asked to move out of here to make room for the new roads and construction,” he says.
But where will they go? Will there be relocation and rehabilitation for them? No one knows, he says with a shrug.
This kind of uncertainty and lack of transparency about the government’s plans is breeding political anxiety.
Baloch nationalists have remained resentful of the Pakistani army’s control of the province. Leaders such as Akhtar Mengal fear that the influx of outsiders is turning the Baloch into a minority in their own land.
Pakistan’s civil-military leaders and the mainstream commercial media are generally dismissive of such concerns. They readily accuse the nay-sayers of playing into the hands of India. Unfortunately, it has become a typical knee-jerk reaction to silence any critics.
Uncertainty and lack of transparency about the government's plans is breeding political anxiety
So, Pakistan and China are pressing ahead with infrastructure projects and connectivity. The main priority is to revive the deep-sea port. The Chinese have already spent 160 million dollars in rehabilitating port operations. An additional $500 million is being poured into the Free Trade Zone. About 300 Chinese staffers are now living and working on the port premises.
“These investments show the level of commitment the Chinese have with Gwadar,” points out Dostain Jamaldini, the chairman of the Gwadar Port Authority.
But it is still early days and the port doesn’t see much shipping activity on most days. At the moment, a ship or two docks at the port in a month. According to Jamaldini, that frequency is expected to go up in the next few months. “With improved storage facilities and cargo handling, by next year, we hope to get three ships a week,” he says.
Boatmaker Abbas Waara
Much will depend on the pace of industrial activity in the Tax Free Trade Zone. A pilot phase has recently kicked off under which construction work is taking place round the clock.
At least five factories are expected to be ready for trade before the end of this year. They include a motorcycle assembly plant, a steel-pipe manufacturing factory, a seafood processing plant, an edible oil extraction company and a logistics warehouse.
But for many of those at the receiving end of the official euphoria over CPEC as “a game-changer,” if there’s one thing that could inspire confidence it would be access to clean drinking water.
M Saleem, fish trader
The city currently needs 6.3 mgd of water, but it hardly gets about 2.7 mgd from the nearby Ankara Kaur Dam. Most residents have to go to great pains, for days if not weeks, to arrange portable drinking water. And when the water crisis gets worse and prices go up, many simply can’t afford it.
Over the years, the government has spent billions trying to find a solution to the town’s chronic water problem. After perpetual delays, two new reservoirs have reached the final phase of their completion: Swad Dam with 2.5 mgd capacity and Shaadi Kaur Dam with 5 mgd capacity. Neither is expected to start supplying water to Gwadar before next year.
But water reservoirs rely on rainfall. During the last few years, Balochistan’s coastal Makran region has been water stressed due to insufficient rains. Hence, the need for treating the abundant sea water for drinking purposes.
In 2006, the provincial government did commission a 2 mgd desalination plant at Karwat. After nine long years it was finally completed in 2015, but quickly broke down because of a faulty design and alleged corruption. “We are going to try to revive that project,” says Ahsan Iqbal, federal minister for planning and commissioning. “But if that doesn’t work, we have decided in principle to go for a new 5 mgd desalination plant under CPEC.”
A growing city and a new desalination plant will require electricity, for which a new 300 MW power plant on imported coal has been approved under CPEC. Given government’s poor institutional capacity and a track record of delays, the two projects could take many years to materialise.
In the short to medium terms, water is likely to remain the single biggest challenge, putting a question mark over the government’s capacity to project Gwadar as Pakistan’s third biggest port city.
@ShahzebJillani is a former BBC correspondent currently working as a senior executive editor for a prime-time news show
