Is CPEC Development Focus Shifting From Gwadar to Karachi?

[RiazHaq]

Is CPEC Development Focus Shifting From Gwadar to Karachi?

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi ...

www.southasiainvestor.com

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi Arabia said it is moving its planned $10 billion petrochemical complex from Gwadar to Karachi. These announcements have triggered speculation that the focus of development of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is moving from Gwadar to Karachi.

Karachi Port

The Karachi project dubbed "Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone project" or KCCDZ includes additional new berths to Karachi port, development of a new fisheries port and a 640-hectare special economic zone near the port. The project also envisages building a harbor bridge connecting the port with the nearby Manora islands, according to Nikkei Asia.

Saudi decision to shift the $10 billion petrochemical plant from Gwadar to Karachi was triggered by the fact that there is no oil pipeline nor a rail line planned to support it at Gwadar. Karachi already has well-developed roads, rails, telecommunications and pipeline infrastructure for connectivity with the rest of the country.

China already has a lot invested in Gwadar. Krzysztof Iwanek, head of the Asia Research Center at Warsaw's War Studies University, told Nikkei that the challenges of developing a major port in an underdeveloped area like Gwadar must have been factored in by China from the outset. "t may be assumed that Chinese involvement in Gwadar may be at least partially strategic. Karachi, in turn, is Pakistan's most important port, and, hence, Chinese involvement there may be of purely economic nature," Iwanek said.

My own view is that Gwadar remains very important to China for strategic reasons. Gwadar sits very close to the strategic Hormuz Strait that is used by tankers carrying the bulk of China's and the world's energy imports. Karachi is the fastest and most economical route to making CPEC operational but it does not diminish the long-term importance of Gwadar for China.

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Is CPEC Development Focus Shifting From Gwadar to Karachi?

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi ...

www.southasiainvestor.com

 

[hydrabadi_arab]

Saudi project is pipedream anyway.

 

[Falconless]

Gwadar was always going to be a dud, it’s too far from anything.

 

[Protest_again]

Gwadar was always going to be a dud, it’s too far from anything.

However costs incurred so far in Gwader will be recovered. And Chinese are moving into real estate in Pakistan, seeing that's the only thing that sells there. All the industry coming to Pakistan is put on a back burner and Imran is hoping to create a dubai like city with no economy to back it. Good luck.

 

[FuturePAF]

Gwadar only works if it is in the ideal location for something Karachi can’t do as cost effectively. Gwadar could work if it is a port to ship raw materials out of the country from mines in Baluchistan or Southern Afghanistan. Gwadar could work as the terminus of a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline. Gwadar could work as the terminus of a railway from Russia through Central Asia and southern Afghanistan to the Arabian Sea. All this presupposes air tight security to maintain investor confidence.

Karachi ideally situated to serve the Pakistani domestic market. That is why a refinery works well there. Also why housing development work there as well.

The Chinese “agreement” and the Saudi “plan” are all on paper unless the government wholesale reforms how business is done in the country.

If Pakistan wants to save Gwadar, the best thing would be to get the Afghans to allow a rail line to be built from Quetta to Turkmenistan. That line would then be able to take a share of Russian and Chinese trade from the Indian Ocean region into the heart of Asia and vis a versa. Get private investors (from the Pakistani and Afghan Diaspora) involved in this venture, and distribute the risk. It’s not the logistical facilties or corridors Pakistan should be looking to earn from, but the business that Logistical infrastructure attracts.

 

[Pak Nationalist]

Is CPEC Development Focus Shifting From Gwadar to Karachi?

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi ...

www.southasiainvestor.com

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi Arabia said it is moving its planned $10 billion petrochemical complex from Gwadar to Karachi. These announcements have triggered speculation that the focus of development of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is moving from Gwadar to Karachi.

​

Karachi Port

The Karachi project dubbed "Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone project" or KCCDZ includes additional new berths to Karachi port, development of a new fisheries port and a 640-hectare special economic zone near the port. The project also envisages building a harbor bridge connecting the port with the nearby Manora islands, according to Nikkei Asia.

Saudi decision to shift the $10 billion petrochemical plant from Gwadar to Karachi was triggered by the fact that there is no oil pipeline nor a rail line planned to support it at Gwadar. Karachi already has well-developed roads, rails, telecommunications and pipeline infrastructure for connectivity with the rest of the country.

China already has a lot invested in Gwadar. Krzysztof Iwanek, head of the Asia Research Center at Warsaw's War Studies University, told Nikkei that the challenges of developing a major port in an underdeveloped area like Gwadar must have been factored in by China from the outset. "t may be assumed that Chinese involvement in Gwadar may be at least partially strategic. Karachi, in turn, is Pakistan's most important port, and, hence, Chinese involvement there may be of purely economic nature," Iwanek said.

My own view is that Gwadar remains very important to China for strategic reasons. Gwadar sits very close to the strategic Hormuz Strait that is used by tankers carrying the bulk of China's and the world's energy imports. Karachi is the fastest and most economical route to making CPEC operational but it does not diminish the long-term importance of Gwadar for China.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

South Asia Investor Review

Pakistanis Happier Than Neighbors

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Vision

Karachi Safety Ranking Rising

Gangs of Karachi

Gangster Politicians of Karachi

Karachi is World's Fastest Growing Megacity

Karachi's Human Development Index

Pakistan Rising or Failing: Reality vs Perception

Pakistan's Trillion Dollar Economy Among top 25

CPEC Myths and Facts

Gwadar Port

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel


PakAlumni Social Network

Is CPEC Development Focus Shifting From Gwadar to Karachi?

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi ...

www.southasiainvestor.com

If true, that is bad news for the country. CPEC had provided an opportunity to develop the lesser developed parts of the country and integrate these into the national mainstream. This was to be done via improving connectivity (CPEC 1.0) and setting up area-specific industrial clusters under the SEZs (CPEC 2.0). If true, this means Pakistan and its partners (mainly Pakistan) have once again wiped their hands-off for the easy way out. Development has to be distributed equitably for ALL to develop stakes in the federation. Relegating Gwadar to a mere outpost for Chinese military/strategic interests would not only be a grave injustice with Balochistan but the entire country (Western doubts would come true, and there would be a price to pay).
Karachi cannot berth the mega container ships, which Gwadar port could naturally do due to its depth.

 

[Khan vilatey]

Is CPEC Development Focus Shifting From Gwadar to Karachi?

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi ...

www.southasiainvestor.com

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi Arabia said it is moving its planned $10 billion petrochemical complex from Gwadar to Karachi. These announcements have triggered speculation that the focus of development of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is moving from Gwadar to Karachi.

​

Karachi Port

The Karachi project dubbed "Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone project" or KCCDZ includes additional new berths to Karachi port, development of a new fisheries port and a 640-hectare special economic zone near the port. The project also envisages building a harbor bridge connecting the port with the nearby Manora islands, according to Nikkei Asia.

Saudi decision to shift the $10 billion petrochemical plant from Gwadar to Karachi was triggered by the fact that there is no oil pipeline nor a rail line planned to support it at Gwadar. Karachi already has well-developed roads, rails, telecommunications and pipeline infrastructure for connectivity with the rest of the country.

China already has a lot invested in Gwadar. Krzysztof Iwanek, head of the Asia Research Center at Warsaw's War Studies University, told Nikkei that the challenges of developing a major port in an underdeveloped area like Gwadar must have been factored in by China from the outset. "t may be assumed that Chinese involvement in Gwadar may be at least partially strategic. Karachi, in turn, is Pakistan's most important port, and, hence, Chinese involvement there may be of purely economic nature," Iwanek said.

My own view is that Gwadar remains very important to China for strategic reasons. Gwadar sits very close to the strategic Hormuz Strait that is used by tankers carrying the bulk of China's and the world's energy imports. Karachi is the fastest and most economical route to making CPEC operational but it does not diminish the long-term importance of Gwadar for China.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

South Asia Investor Review

Pakistanis Happier Than Neighbors

Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah's Vision

Karachi Safety Ranking Rising

Gangs of Karachi

Gangster Politicians of Karachi

Karachi is World's Fastest Growing Megacity

Karachi's Human Development Index

Pakistan Rising or Failing: Reality vs Perception

Pakistan's Trillion Dollar Economy Among top 25

CPEC Myths and Facts

Gwadar Port

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel


PakAlumni Social Network

Is CPEC Development Focus Shifting From Gwadar to Karachi?

China has agreed to invest $3.5 billion in Karachi, according to Pakistani and Chinese officials. In a separate announcement earlier, Saudi ...

www.southasiainvestor.com

I think they will develop both ports

k

 

[FuturePAF]

I think they will develop both ports

k

Gwadar needs to specialize in serving Central Asia, and for that we need the cheapest transport costs into Central Asia. We need a rail line from Gwadar to Quetta and onto Turkmenistan, where it can join the Central Asia rail network to China, Russia, and Europe. Bring in foreign investors that are willing to invest in this, and compensate them fairly with adequate royalty for every container transported, and they will become the biggest international advocates for Gwadar because their money is at stake.

 

[newb3e]

However costs incurred so far in Gwader will be recovered. And Chinese are moving into real estate in Pakistan, seeing that's the only thing that sells there. All the industry coming to Pakistan is put on a back burner and Imran is hoping to create a dubai like city with no economy to back it. Good luck.

paajets lines up to sarve in no economy dubai! will your ugly kind do the same for khi?

lalit paajeet!

 

[Protest_again]

paajets lines up to sarve in no economy dubai! will your ugly kind do the same for khi?

lalit paajeet!

You are too stupid to even talk to. Shuuu pest.

 

[newb3e]

You are too stupid to even talk to. Shuuu pest.

will you line up to serve Muslim Arabs?

 

[Protest_again]

will you line up to serve Muslim Arabs?

Will Muslim Arabs line up to offer me a higher salary? of course, Muslim Pakistanis will still be crying on the side though.

 

[newb3e]

Will Muslim Arabs line up to offer me a higher salary? of course, Muslim Pakistanis will still be crying on the side though.

but but but MOdi g bolay Hindu khatray may hai! Muslim dushman hai!

why would you serve muslims? or is it a hindu thing?

 

[TNT]

However costs incurred so far in Gwader will be recovered. And Chinese are moving into real estate in Pakistan, seeing that's the only thing that sells there. All the industry coming to Pakistan is put on a back burner and Imran is hoping to create a dubai like city with no economy to back it. Good luck.

Says an indian rat. Dont u have to clean ganga of all the rotting dead bodies? Worry abt ur shithole,chinese are not backing off.

 

[FuturePAF]

If the Chinese shift from in investing (or just shifting their older) export earning industries to solely building real estate, they will be earning from the Pakistani domestic middle and upper class. It’s not a plus but a negative, because more money will leave Pakistan. At least local developers live and circulate their money in Pakistan. This is not an anti-China point of view, this would be the same if any foreigner comes into an area to earn and repatriate their profits out of the economy. The only thing that can make this worse is if they bring in their own laborers and make this investment in the form of higher then the global average interest rate loans. The longer we cut these bad deals, the deeper in the hole we will be, and the only one we will have to blame is ourselves, as our best human resources and capital flee the country.

What I fear is the government will not make the needed reforms because it always has to remember it has to win the next election. This is why an authoritarian 20-30 years are what may be needed, as in the East Asian tiger economies, as the politicians and rich can’t get their act together.