*GWADAR: *For over a decade, Pakistani officials have dreamed oftransforming the small but strategically located fishing port of Gwadarinto a duty-free port and free economic zone – Pakistan’s answer to Dubai.
The aim is for Gwadar – located on the Arabian Sea near Iran and the mouthof the Persian Gulf – to become a regional commercial, industrial andshipping hub, as part of the ambitious China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) project.
The corridor is designed to give China a shorter, more secure tradingroute, via Pakistan, to the Middle East and beyond, while also boostingPakistan’s economy.
Right now, however, the dusty ‘next Dubai’ on Pakistan’s coast resemblesthe original mainly in one respect – it doesn’t have much water.
“It hasn’t rained here for the last three years,” explains a localjournalist, Sajid Baloch.
Abdul Rahim, who works for the Gwadar Development Authority, under theprovincial government of Balochistan, said climate change is playing a rolein Gwadar’s thirst.
“I would say because of climate change the rains have stopped – it used torain much more often and in every season. Now Gwadar is facing severe waterissues. There is no fresh water here,” Rahim said.
Nearby Akra Kaur reservoir dried up two years ago, and water must now bebrought from a more distant source, he said. Some of the water coming in iscontaminated, leading to an increase in waterborne illnesses such ashepatitis, he added.
Tapping groundwater isn’t a solution. “There is no point in digging wellsas the underground water is all brackish,” Rahim said.
GROWING FAST
Right now, the Gwadar peninsula – a hammerhead-shaped projection of landinto the Arabian Sea – is home to about 100,000 people, followingcompletion of the first phase of the port development.
But as development continues, the area’s population is expected to grow to500,000 by 2020, according to the port authority’s website.
On one side of the peninsula is the deep-sea port, built by the Chinesestate-owned China Overseas Holding Company. On the other side lies thelocal harbor.
Fishing was Gwadar’s main economic activity before the port startedoperations, and some local people say they so far see little benefit in thegovernment’s grand plans.
“We are dying from thirst, there are no doctors in our hospitals, theelectricity comes and goes and there is garbage everywhere as no onecollects it,” complained Rasool Bux, a fisherman who lives near the harbor.
“First fix all these problems. Then develop this dream of Dubai,” he urged.
Bux said most in the town get their water from tankers that make thetwo-hour drive from Mirani Dam. But the tankers only come once or twice amonth to his area, Bux said, and shortages are common.
Muhammad Ali Kakar, the province’s planning and development secretary, tolda government committee in December that the total demand for water inGwadar city was 6.5 million gallons a day, but tankers supplied only 2million gallons.
SATISFYING THIRST
To help solve the water shortages two desalination plants have been builtin the port, with Chinese expertise. The smaller can provide 200,000gallons of potable water per day to the port, while the larger one,recently completed in the adjacent duty-free zone, can supply double thatamount.
Both plants rely on power from generators, as there is not enough gridpower in Gwadar to run them, said Sajjd H. Baloch, the director general ofGwadar Development Authority.
Some fishermen say they now buy clean drinking water from the port, payingup to 50 rupees for a three-liter can. Gul Mohammed, the operationsdirector for the port authority, said his agency was willing to supplyclean water outside the port and duty-free zone, but would need to be paidto produce it.
“We are willing to provide water from the larger plant to the city ofGwadar at the rate of 0.98 rupees per gallon, but the Government ofBalochistan has to sign an agreement with us,” he said.
The provincial government is reluctant to accept the offer, hoping forrains this year to fill the Akra Kaur dam, Rahim said.
The Pakistani army, tasked with protecting the CPEC project, meanwhile,also has laid the foundation for a large desalination plant to be builtwith help from the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.
The plant, to be completed by July, will provide 4.4 million gallons ofwater a day, free of cost, to the inhabitants of Gwadar city, according toan army press release.
Providing better services, including clean drinking water, is seen as a wayof helping win local support for the development push – and to help quellan ongoing insurgency by Baloch separatists in the province.
As part of the winning-hearts effort, the army also has brought inspecialist doctors to supplement those already working at the localgovernment-run hospital.
A new road will soon connect the port to the Makran Coastal Highway, whichlinks Gwadar to Karachi. Gwadar’s new airport will be Pakistan’s largestwhen it is complete.
The China Power Company also plans to open a 300 megawatt coal-fired powerplant around 20km from the port to provide electricity to Gwadar.
Meanwhile, tourism has started too, and the port is increasingly bustlingwith visitors.
“Certainly the security in Gwadar has improved considerably in the last twoyears. I would say that, given all the recent development, the dream ofDubai will be realized in a decade or so,” said Munir Ahmed, a portsecurity officer. – Agencies