FuturePAF
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There is a similar thread open about this need in Bangladesh, and IMHO, Pakistan needs this as well.
The Indians are also doing this on sections of the Ganga River at the moment with hopes of making the whole river navigable soon.
www.google.com
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A large part of attracting investors is cost of doing business. Pakistan has a sizable population but most of the population does not live in Karachi, where it would be the cheapest for an export oriented company to set up a factory, if shipping costs are the primarily concern.
If Pakistan had navigable rivers it could utilize its entire population the way the US does along the Mississippi or China does along the Yangtze or Pearl rivers.
Navigable rivers in Pakistan are one of the key to rapid industrialization. We can’t move most of our population to the coasts to make labor Available to the global companies, but we can bring ships to our populations in the form of navigable rivers. Couple this with a canal (The “Makran Canal”) from Karachi to Gwadar and you have a way to make Gwadar, with its deep water port, relevant to global trade, a potentially viable competitor to Dubai, and therefore more Chinese investment, not just in Gwadar but the whole of a Pakistan. Gwadar with a canal via Karachi and not a rail line directly north to Quetta would also make it more secure from potential future successionist plans.
We need to think big, and a lot of the work we can do ourselves. Think of our rivers like they were the Mississippi River or the Yangtze with each of their tributaries. I use to live near one of the tributaries of the Mississippi and would watch the barges going by day after day. Shipping by sea is the cheapest form of transport. Couple this with a railway from the Rivers to China via Afghanistan and Central Asia, and you get a non-Malacca Route for Chinese trade; commercial customers. with a trade route like that, commercial investors would come from both East and West, making Pakistan important to global trade; because it would be the like the “Suez Canal” to Central Asia. This route would be the only Non-Chinese, Non-Iranian, Non-Russian influenced route into Central Asia.
We can start by being more careful in how we use our water. We need to use modern farms of agriculture and conserve the water so there is enough to make the rivers Navigable all the way down into the Indus delta (which would also enhance the national defense by creating a water barrier for enemy forces to have to cross, as we have seen in the recent Ukraine war). With proper water management we can go from the current 45 Million acres of Arable land to 70 Million acres of arable land (or a 55% increase) as outlined in the Pakistan flood control system. These added land could increase tax payments and help pay for some of this project.
www.slideshare.net
In fact with the following chart, you can know exactly how deep the water level needs to be to carry ships of a certain weight down River.
The Indians have been studying the navigability of the River Ravi for Years
www.google.com
With the right boat (A Stern Landing Vessel), a ship could travel the Rivers of Pakistan, AND traverse the Arabian Sea and make it to the port of Djibouti, where trade with Africa would be at the lowest possible cost. If Ethiopia and Djibouti use some of the water from the Great Renaissance dam to build a canal from the dam to Djibouti, a ship like this could sail into the African interior. It wouldn’t need a prepared port to trade in; so imaging a small factory town in Pakistan trading with a small mining town in the middle of Africa, or Vice versa, all this with minimal amount of local government (or potential corrupt local elite interference)
Sailing through the Congo river, it could then sail up the west coast of Africa and could sail through the entire Niger a river system as well. HUGE trade potential with a few key infrastructure projects. Sailing along the coasts is a strategy done in Europe called the “Motorway of the Sea”
This kind of ship would not only be good for commerce but Pakistani military logistics, and would make the profit margins even higher for existing industrialists. It’s a win win that any Smart party would do, especially if they can convince the people that conserving water and using it wisely will benefit them greatly.
Then Pakistan could easily trade in higher amounts with Africa and Central Asia, as well as earn from the transit trade accordingly.
So Sialkot Footballs and Faisalabad Textiles on a ship, straight from the factory, right into the heart of an African city (where in many places road and rail infrastructure is limited at best), means a HUGE place for economic growth and diversification of our trade, especially when Africa’s population is expect to double in the next 30 years.
These are the kinds of projects I would hope our government/establishment, whatever are focused on, instead of the current political situation.
Now that’s the way to attract the interest of investors.
Necessity of basin-wide management for water transit and trade
Necessity of basin-wide management for water transit and trade SUPPLEMENT Md Abdul Matin 25 January, 2022, 11:45 am Last modified: 25 January, 2022, 12:32 pm https://www.tbsnews.net/supplement/necessity-basin-wide-management-water-transit-and-trade-362002 Bangladesh has been projected...
defence.pk
The Indians are also doing this on sections of the Ganga River at the moment with hopes of making the whole river navigable soon.
India plans to overhaul rivers for shipping
Plans to turn the country's waterways into major shipping channels will require large scale engineering and linking of river basins
www.google.com
——————-
A large part of attracting investors is cost of doing business. Pakistan has a sizable population but most of the population does not live in Karachi, where it would be the cheapest for an export oriented company to set up a factory, if shipping costs are the primarily concern.
If Pakistan had navigable rivers it could utilize its entire population the way the US does along the Mississippi or China does along the Yangtze or Pearl rivers.
Navigable rivers in Pakistan are one of the key to rapid industrialization. We can’t move most of our population to the coasts to make labor Available to the global companies, but we can bring ships to our populations in the form of navigable rivers. Couple this with a canal (The “Makran Canal”) from Karachi to Gwadar and you have a way to make Gwadar, with its deep water port, relevant to global trade, a potentially viable competitor to Dubai, and therefore more Chinese investment, not just in Gwadar but the whole of a Pakistan. Gwadar with a canal via Karachi and not a rail line directly north to Quetta would also make it more secure from potential future successionist plans.
We need to think big, and a lot of the work we can do ourselves. Think of our rivers like they were the Mississippi River or the Yangtze with each of their tributaries. I use to live near one of the tributaries of the Mississippi and would watch the barges going by day after day. Shipping by sea is the cheapest form of transport. Couple this with a railway from the Rivers to China via Afghanistan and Central Asia, and you get a non-Malacca Route for Chinese trade; commercial customers. with a trade route like that, commercial investors would come from both East and West, making Pakistan important to global trade; because it would be the like the “Suez Canal” to Central Asia. This route would be the only Non-Chinese, Non-Iranian, Non-Russian influenced route into Central Asia.
We can start by being more careful in how we use our water. We need to use modern farms of agriculture and conserve the water so there is enough to make the rivers Navigable all the way down into the Indus delta (which would also enhance the national defense by creating a water barrier for enemy forces to have to cross, as we have seen in the recent Ukraine war). With proper water management we can go from the current 45 Million acres of Arable land to 70 Million acres of arable land (or a 55% increase) as outlined in the Pakistan flood control system. These added land could increase tax payments and help pay for some of this project.
Pakistan Flood Control System
Pakistan Flood Control System - Download as a PDF or view online for free
In fact with the following chart, you can know exactly how deep the water level needs to be to carry ships of a certain weight down River.
The Indians have been studying the navigability of the River Ravi for Years
The Indus Inland Waterways System - the next big thing for Asia?
A new Indus waterways transport system could revolutionise the economies of South Asia
www.google.com
With the right boat (A Stern Landing Vessel), a ship could travel the Rivers of Pakistan, AND traverse the Arabian Sea and make it to the port of Djibouti, where trade with Africa would be at the lowest possible cost. If Ethiopia and Djibouti use some of the water from the Great Renaissance dam to build a canal from the dam to Djibouti, a ship like this could sail into the African interior. It wouldn’t need a prepared port to trade in; so imaging a small factory town in Pakistan trading with a small mining town in the middle of Africa, or Vice versa, all this with minimal amount of local government (or potential corrupt local elite interference)
Sailing through the Congo river, it could then sail up the west coast of Africa and could sail through the entire Niger a river system as well. HUGE trade potential with a few key infrastructure projects. Sailing along the coasts is a strategy done in Europe called the “Motorway of the Sea”
This kind of ship would not only be good for commerce but Pakistani military logistics, and would make the profit margins even higher for existing industrialists. It’s a win win that any Smart party would do, especially if they can convince the people that conserving water and using it wisely will benefit them greatly.
Then Pakistan could easily trade in higher amounts with Africa and Central Asia, as well as earn from the transit trade accordingly.
So Sialkot Footballs and Faisalabad Textiles on a ship, straight from the factory, right into the heart of an African city (where in many places road and rail infrastructure is limited at best), means a HUGE place for economic growth and diversification of our trade, especially when Africa’s population is expect to double in the next 30 years.
These are the kinds of projects I would hope our government/establishment, whatever are focused on, instead of the current political situation.
Now that’s the way to attract the interest of investors.
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