Gwadar – Pakistan’s mega port city of the future

Pakistan’s plan to build its third deep-sea port at Gwadar, was proposed at a time when there were several other ports functioning already. Not to mention the mega cosmopolitan city Dubai, and two of Pakistan’s own ports, Karachi port and Port Qasim.

Being a small fishing village and barren land, it was impossible to imagine Gwadar posing as a threat to the other ports that were around it. Inaugurated in 2002, the first phase of its development ended in 2006, and during this time the facilities built at the port were quite limited, with only 3 berths built there.

The Gwadar port operations were then handed over to Port of Singapore Authority in 2007, the PSA oversaw the port’s operation for 5 years and during that time, and it was heavily neglected. Due to security reasons, PSA did little to no work there, and then the port was finally handed over to China. Now since 2013 COPHC is handling Gwadar’s operations.

While things seemed gloomy on Gwadar’s end, but after the COPHC took charge of the port and the huge investment of China in Gwadar, will prove to be agame-changer. And then later with the announcement of CPEC, Gwadar port was about to receive a tremendous boost.
It was now certain that Gwadar had the potential to be Pakistan’s biggest port both land and operations wise, for many reasons.

·        The biggest advantage is the location of Gwadar, which is being situated at the mount of Strait of Hormuz, and being a warm deep-sea port, that will be active all year round.
·        Gwadar should not be expected to replace Dubai, and so to counter Dubai, it should also be declared as a tax-free port and can be provided as a cheaper alternative to Dubai.
·        Pakistan can utilize its unemployed population and provide port services, at much cheaper labor cost and lower the cost of doing business.
·        CPEC will not only join China and Pakistan, but it will also connect Pakistan to the various countries that will join the one road, one belt initiative.
·        Being a relatively large city, the Gwadar Real Estate companies active there are developing the city on international standards, which will be better than other major cities of Pakistan like Lahore or Karachi.
·        China has trade with numerous countries globally, after China concentrates its operations at Gwadar, most of the countries that trade with China will now resume their operations at Gwadar, thus opening new markets for Pakistan.


So for Gwadar to reach its full potential, Pakistan must strive hard to develop all the aspects that will lead to profitable operations at Gwadar port. This way Pakistan will have a global trading presence and a prospering economy.

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