Will Gwadar Grow to Become a Major Metropolis Like Shenzhen?

[nang2]

it is possible when folks stop dreaming and start doing.

 

[RiazHaq]

#China Turning #Pakistan's #Gwadar Port Into Regional Giant. #CPEC

https://www.voanews.com/a/pakistan-china-gwadar-port/4084175.html

An unprecedented Chinese financial and construction effort is rapidly developing Pakistan’s strategically located Arabian Sea port of Gwadar into one of the world’s largest transit and transshipment cargo facilities.

The deep water port lies at the convergence of three of the most commercially important regions of the world, the oil-rich Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia.

Beijing is developing Gwadar as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, known as CPEC. The two countries launched the 15-year joint mega project in 2015 when President Xi Jinping visited Islamabad.

Under the cooperation deal construction or improvement of highways, railways, pipelines, power plants, communications and industrial zones is underway in Pakistan with an initially estimated Chinese investment of $46 billion.

The aim is to link Gwadar to landlocked western China, including its Muslim-majority Xinjiang region, giving it access to a shorter and secure route through Pakistan to global trade. The port will also provide the shortest route to landlocked Central Asian countries, including Afghanistan, through transit trade and offering transshipment facilities.

Chinese fuel imports and trading cargo will be loaded on trucks and ferried to and from Xinjiang through the Karakoram Highway, snaking past snow-caped peaks in northern Pakistan.

‘Qualitative change’

Gwadar will be able to handle about one million tons of cargo annually by the end of the year. Officials anticipate that with expansion plans under way, the port will become South Asia’s biggest shipping center within five years, with a yearly capacity of handling 13-million tons of cargo. And by 2030, they say, it will be capable of handling up to 400-million tons of cargo annually.

China has in recent months begun calling CPEC the flagship project of its global Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI. The “qualitative change” from an experimental project to flagship project underscores the importance Beijing attaches to CPEC, said Zhao Lijian, the deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad.

Out of 39 “early harvest” projects under CPEC, 19 have since been completed or are under construction with a Chinese investment of about $18.5 billion, Lijian told VOA. The progress makes it the fastest developing of all of at least six BRI’s corridors China plans to establish, added the Chinese diplomat.

 

[VCheng]

(contd.)

Gwadar is a “symbol of regional peace and prosperity” because it will connect countries around Pakistan to serve their trading interests, said port Chairman Dostain Khan Jamaldini.

Jamaldini dismissed as “not true” concerns that skilled Chinese laborers, engineers and businesses will flood Pakistan, hurting domestic industries. About 65 percent of the labor force on construction and other projects at Gwadar is Pakistani, and the number of Chinese is currently just over 300, he added.

Security concerns and India’s claims over some of the territory crossed by the massive project remain key challenges for Gwadar and CPEC in general. Pakistani and Chinese officials dismiss reported assertions that Beijing is expanding its presence at Gwadar to be able to handle naval ships and military transport planes.

The collaboration has “no strategic or political” aims against a third country, insisted Lijian. He went on to assert that the purpose of CPEC” is to help our iron brother Pakistan” to improve its economy and to strengthen the bilateral relationship.

Pakistani officials have trained and deployed about 15,000 troops and paramilitary forces to guard CPEC-related projects and the Chinese working on them. Islamabad alleges that the Indian intelligence agency has been tasked to plot subversive acts to derail CPEC.

Sleepy fishing town

Gwadar, with a population of around 100,000, mostly fishermen and boat makers, is often referred to as a sleepy fishing town.

The costal city’s poverty-stricken residents are hoping new employment opportunities will be created for them in the wake of the massive development underway in Gwadar.

But their immediate challenges are shortages of clean drinking water and hours long daily power blackouts.

FILE - A general view of the port before the inauguration of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor port in Gwadar, Pakistan Nov. 13, 2016.



“We are happy Chinese are building port, hospitals, schools and roads but right now we out of power during most of the day and limited water availability,” said fisherman Khalil Ahmed.

The family, like other fishermen in Gwadar, has been plying unspoiled crystal blue waters of the Arabian Sea for decades with age-old fishing techniques and barely surviving on limited income because financial resources do not allow them to buy modern fishing tools.

However, ongoing massive economic activity will “qualitatively” change the lives of its poverty-stricken residents for the better, says Mushahid Hussain, who chairs a parliamentary committee on CPEC.

He says a fisheries processing plant is being installed at the port and arrangements are being planned to train and equip fishermen to improve and export local fish to other parts of Pakistan and China.

Senator Hussain believes economic projects under construction in Gwadar will help its people and address long-running grievances of the province of Baluchistan, where the port is situated.

The poverty-stricken largest Pakistani province has long been in the grip of a low-level Baluchistan separatist insurgency, which mainly stems from demands from the federal government for local control over Baluchistan’s vast natural resources.

Gwadar’s existing 50-bed government hospital is being extended to 300 beds, a technical and vocational institute is being constructed, a 300-megawatts coal-based power plant and a desalination plant are being installed, a new international airport and a six-lane international standard expressway are being built to connect Gwadar port with the rest of Pakistan and neighboring countries, including Iran and Afghanistan.

Local officials say most of the projects, including the new airport, are being built with Chinese financial grants. The rest of the projects in Gwadar and elsewhere in Pakistan under CPEC are being built with “interest-free” and “soft-loans” from China.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@RiazHaq

Brof sb,

I have been following your posts for the last decade about how the big T(har coal fields), the big R(eqo Diq copper mines) and the big G(wadar port) will transform Pakistan. We have seen how the big T and big R have panned out. lets hope big G will shape up to your dreams.

A few points I need to make though:

It is comparable to the capacity of all of India's ports combined annual capacity of 500 million tons of cargo today.

As with most of your information about India, this is dated. India's port capacity is around 1.5 billion MT and in FY 2014-15 it was already handling over 1 billion MT of cargo.

Here's the link:

https://www.maritimeinvest.in/new-port-development

The total volume of traffic handled by Indian ports in FY2014–15 was 1052.1 million tons per annum (MTPA),

It is expected that by 2025, the ports will be required to handle a cargo of 2500 MTPA while the current port capacity in India is 1500 MTPA.

Regards

 

[RiazHaq]

@RiazHaq

Brof sb,

I have been following your posts for the last decade about how the big T(har coal fields), the big R(eqo Diq copper mines) and the big G(wadar port) will transform Pakistan. We have seen how the big T and big R have panned out. lets hope big G will shape up to your dreams.

A few points I need to make though:

It is comparable to the capacity of all of India's ports combined annual capacity of 500 million tons of cargo today.

As with most of your information about India, this is dated. India's port capacity is around 1.5 billion MT and in FY 2014-15 it was already handling over 1 billion MT of cargo.

Here's the link:

https://www.maritimeinvest.in/new-port-development

The total volume of traffic handled by Indian ports in FY2014–15 was 1052.1 million tons per annum (MTPA),

It is expected that by 2025, the ports will be required to handle a cargo of 2500 MTPA while the current port capacity in India is 1500 MTPA.

Regards

The massive coal and mineral deposits in Pakistan are there and continue to be worth trillions of dollars.

Thar coal development is in full gear now and Pakistan is beginning to take advantage of coal deposits. I expect other mineral extraction elsewhere including Reko Diq will follow sooner or later.

http://www.riazhaq.com/2016/08/pakistans-thar-desert-riding-cpec.html


As to Gwadar, it again is reality and it's growing everyday as today's VOA report puts it: " An unprecedented Chinese financial and construction effort is rapidly developing Pakistan’s strategically located Arabian Sea port of Gwadar into one of the world’s largest transit and transshipment cargo facilities......And by 2030, they say, it will be capable of handling up to 400-million tons of cargo annually."

400 million tons capacity is massive for a single port in Pakistan by any measure....even if you compare it to total billion tons capacity of all of India's ports today.


https://www.voanews.com/a/pakistan-china-gwadar-port/4084175.html

 

[maravan91]

The massive coal and mineral deposits in Pakistan are there and continue to be worth trillions of dollars.

Thar coal development is in full gear now and Pakistan is beginning to take advantage of coal deposits. I expect other mineral extraction elsewhere including Reko Diq will follow sooner or later.

http://www.riazhaq.com/2016/08/pakistans-thar-desert-riding-cpec.html


As to Gwadar, it again is reality and it's growing everyday as today's VOA report puts it: " An unprecedented Chinese financial and construction effort is rapidly developing Pakistan’s strategically located Arabian Sea port of Gwadar into one of the world’s largest transit and transshipment cargo facilities......And by 2030, they say, it will be capable of handling up to 400-million tons of cargo annually."

400 million tons capacity is massive for a single port in Pakistan by any measure....even if you compare it to total billion tons capacity of all of India's ports today.


https://www.voanews.com/a/pakistan-china-gwadar-port/4084175.html

did you produce enough products to use gwadar port. Gwadar port was opened in 2008. 10 years later, no improvement in port.still looks like a empty port.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@RiazHaq

Brof sb,

Thar coal development is in full gear now and Pakistan is beginning to take advantage of coal deposits.

If Niaz sb (@niaz) is to be believed, that coal is of very poor quality and will never be a major contributor to Pakistans energy basket.

I expect other mineral extraction elsewhere including Reko Diq will follow sooner or later.

Maybe. But as things stand today, not an ounce has been extracted and on top of that, because of that one eyed CJP, already billions of dollars of claims are outstanding against Pak.

400 million tons capacity is massive for a single port in Pakistan by any measure

Mundra owned and operated by ModiGee's friend Gautambhai already has a capacity of 300 + million MTPA and there is a proposal to increase it to 600 million MTPA. The actual cargo handled however is only a shade over 100 million mt. Gwadar is a good development alright but dont expect it to be a gamechanger. As maravan bhai ( @maravan91 ) says you need to actually utilise that capacity.

Regards

 

[313ghazi]

Not a chance. Shenzhen was built by the Chinese and they have developed it as a city. Their interest in Gwadar is only the port and the connection to the port. If Pakistan wants Gwadar to be like Shenzhen then Pakistani's need to get off their own backside and build it up themselves. We won't do that - we don't do things like that. We have an attitude of thinking about what baba ji left for me, rather than what i can build.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@313ghazi

Ghazi sb,

If Pakistan wants Gwadar to be like Shenzhen then Pakistani's need to get off their own backside and build it up themselves.

Very well-written and well summed up.

Regards

 

[Samlee]

@RiazHaq

Brof sb,

I have been following your posts for the last decade about how the big T(har coal fields), the big R(eqo Diq copper mines) and the big G(wadar port) will transform Pakistan. We have seen how the big T and big R have panned out. lets hope big G will shape up to your dreams.

A few points I need to make though:

It is comparable to the capacity of all of India's ports combined annual capacity of 500 million tons of cargo today.

As with most of your information about India, this is dated. India's port capacity is around 1.5 billion MT and in FY 2014-15 it was already handling over 1 billion MT of cargo.

Here's the link:

https://www.maritimeinvest.in/new-port-development

The total volume of traffic handled by Indian ports in FY2014–15 was 1052.1 million tons per annum (MTPA),

It is expected that by 2025, the ports will be required to handle a cargo of 2500 MTPA while the current port capacity in India is 1500 MTPA.

Regards

That 1btpa volume Was Handled By More Than 200 Major and Minor Indian Ports.This Means That One Gwadar Has The Capacity Of Nearly 100 Indian Ports Now Understand How Big This Is

@RiazHaq

Brof sb,

Thar coal development is in full gear now and Pakistan is beginning to take advantage of coal deposits.

If Niaz sb (@niaz) is to be believed, that coal is of very poor quality and will never be a major contributor to Pakistans energy basket.

I expect other mineral extraction elsewhere including Reko Diq will follow sooner or later.

Maybe. But as things stand today, not an ounce has been extracted and on top of that, because of that one eyed CJP, already billions of dollars of claims are outstanding against Pak.

400 million tons capacity is massive for a single port in Pakistan by any measure

Mundra owned and operated by ModiGee's friend Gautambhai already has a capacity of 300 + million MTPA and there is a proposal to increase it to 600 million MTPA. The actual cargo handled however is only a shade over 100 million mt. Gwadar is a good development alright but dont expect it to be a gamechanger. As maravan bhai ( @maravan91 ) says you need to actually utilise that capacity.

Regards

I Have Never Read Anything Buy Niaz Sahib That Says That Thar Coal Is Useless.Just Because It Is Lignite Does Not Make It Useless.This Is The Same Kind Of Coal That Is Being Used For Power Generation In India.Infact I Remember Niaz Sahib Mentioning An Australian Company That Could Make Gasoline and Metallurgical Coke From Lignite.

As For Reko Diq Yes I Admit It Was Grossly Mishandled But Here Is The Thing, It Exists.Not Only That The District In Which It Is Located Contains Some 40 Such Similar Deposits.Not Only That There Are One and A Half Dozen Locations Which Hold Such Exciting Geological Potential

And The Adani Ports Capacity You Mentioned Are Those Of Multiple Ports Not One

 

[Shah Khalid]

@RiazHaq

Brof sb,

Thar coal development is in full gear now and Pakistan is beginning to take advantage of coal deposits.

If Niaz sb (@niaz) is to be believed, that coal is of very poor quality and will never be a major contributor to Pakistans energy basket.


Regards

If Thar Coal Is So Useless Why Was Your Beloved Laxmi Mittal Begging For Permission To Mine Thar Coal

 

[313ghazi]

@313ghazi

Ghazi sb,

If Pakistan wants Gwadar to be like Shenzhen then Pakistani's need to get off their own backside and build it up themselves.

Very well-written and well summed up.

Regards

One of my biggest concerns about Gwadar and CPEC in general is that there seems to be this underlying tone that the Chinese will do everything and prosperity will jump into our mouths, like a ladoo. The Chinese will do everything that benefits the interests of China and that they have agreed to do to attain that benefit.

The real benefit can only be attained by working just as hard on our side, or even harder to gain benefit.

If the Chinese are building roads, are we only going to provide truck drivers, chai wallas and petrol pumps for those roads? Or will we build industrial parks, link roads to groups of villages near there, start ups to operate at those industrial parks.

If the Chinese build factories will be provide only manual labour and natural resources? Or will we provide companies who provide parts and become part of the supply chains of these factories?

If the Chinese provide electricity will we provide the network to provide supply to rural places, or to ensure uninterrupted supply?

10 years later will we have Pakistani manufacturers making and selling Pakistani goods via Gwadar? What will flow from Pakistan into China? Will it continue to be raw marble, or will we be making goods using that marble? Will we be selling timber or goods made from timber? What Pakistani designed services will Chinese be using?

Will we integrate our universities who have engineering departments with companies who are manufacturing goods in Pakistan? Will those companies have offices in our cities with R&D and office type roles, or simply factories?

How many Chinese will work here? How many Pakistani will we train to do those same jobs?

If we start eating Noodles, will they start eating Biriyani? Will there be cultural exchange? How many Pakistani's will know 50 Chinese words? How many Chinese will know 50 urdu words?

These kinds of questions must be answered by the government, industrialists and people of Pakistan - not by China.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@313ghazi

Ghazi sb,

That was another wonderful post, sir. You have hit the nail on the head. It will take immense amounts of efforts - spread over immense number of disciplines- education, training, healthcare, physical infra buidling- over decades to bring about true development. If by building a few power plants and a giant port you could be developed, every nation in the world would be developed by now.

Regards

 

[Syed1.]

@313ghazi

Ghazi sb,

That was another wonderful post, sir. You have hit the nail on the head. It will take immense amounts of efforts - spread over immense number of disciplines- education, training, healthcare, physical infra buidling- over decades to bring about true development. If by building a few power plants and a giant port you could be developed, every nation in the world would be developed by now.

Regards

To borrow a quote from our Chinese friends:

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

 

[Flash_Ninja]

They show all vessels in all ports

There is no Vessel traffic in Gwadar. Cranes are Rusting

The port is not operational. Are you expecting a fishing village to suddenly turn into an international cargo port within a few years?

I doubt you are watching traffic to Gwadar day and night, any arrivals and departures from there wont be tracked on your precious website because the data for the port is not available.