Importance of Gwadar Port Pakistan

Nowadays the Gwadar port is one of the most talked topic in international news, why? In this thread we will discuss this question

Why Gwadar is so important?

Well After Pakistan's independence in August 1947 Gwadar was a part of Baluchistan (A province of Country) was owned by State of Oman and then after realizing strategic importance of the Gwadar Government of Pakistan bought it from Govt. Of Oman in $3 million back in 1948 ( One year after Pakistan's Independence from British Rulers).

As we all know after the Russian invasion in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan with the help of US weaponry support fought back with Russia until it was very badly defeated. It was considered miraculous that Russia with the most sophisticated weaponry couldn't cross less populated barren land of Afghanistan, but for you guys Afghanistan has a bit of history in defeating superpowers like British rulers in 1700-1947 era. So after Russia was defeated its economy badly collapsed and central Asian states regained independence. These newborn countries were very rich in oil and gas resources but these were landlocked countries.

Almost all oil of Asia goes through the Persian Gulf to Indian sea, then to their respective countries like China, India, Japan, Korea , even Australia etc

So in 1980's Pakistan realized the importance of Gwadar belt, that it is a way through between Whole South Asia and Arab Oil market. So in  80s  Pakistan decided to build the Gwadar port. Recently it was handed over to Chinese investors by the end of  2015 it will be fully operational with full capacity. It is the deepest sea port in the world, it can completely meet the requirement of central Asian countries like Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan etc.

Recently Government of Pakistan has decided to make it a duty free port, hence attracting more investors, businessmen and encouraging as many as possible trades in Pakistan, as we saw what impact Dubai's duty free port made in whole UAE and Dubai itself. It totally build from the ruins to skyscrapers. Pakistan would earn millions of dollar in terms of cargo handling and freight charges.

Free duty port will create a very business friendly environment for traders. Govt of Pakistan has also decided to create technical parks.

Recent Picture of Gwadar ( Source Wikipedia )

Gawadar also has very low cost labor and construction there is very cheap as compared to other port cities. It will at least 2 million Jobs, which will be a revolution for the Province like Baluchistan, which has very less infrastructure built.

After 2006 First Phase of Gwadar was completed by Pakistan Government inaugurated by General Pervez Musharraf, who was the President of Pakistan at that time, nowadays second phase is being built which will add 9 more berth increasing the port capacity 3 times. The contract is handled to Chinese company (Chinese overseas port holding Company). Not only port is being built, but also road linkages, motorways, railroads are also being built by Pakistan with the cooperation of Chinese companies. Whole infrastructure is being built named as China, Pakistan Economic Corridor. Gawadar can save million dollars of China, which was caused by extensive long route from Indian ocean to Pacific Ocean.

China-Pakistan economic corridor includes 51 megaprojects to connect Gwadar to Chinese province Xinjiang, which includes Gwadar to Xinjiang Railroad and motorways, upgradation of already built old infrastructure to maximize its capacity, Pakistan is already linked to China by Historic Karakoram Highway from Gilgit Baltistan to Khunjerab ByPass.

Following Projects are included in China-Pak Economic corridor ( Source Wikipedia )

Gwadar Port	Completed, handed over to China for 40 years starting 2015
Upgrading of Karachi–Peshawar Main Line	Feasibility study underway
Khunjerab Railway	Feasibility study underway
Karachi - Lahore Motorway (KLM)	Approved, Construction to begin 2015
Havelian to Khunjerab Rail track	Approved
Hazara Motorway	Under construction
Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline	Under construction, Iran's part of the pipeline is complete.
Gwadar-Ratodero Motorway	Under construction, approx. 820-km long, expected completion Dec, 15
Economic Corridor Support Force	Completed, armed division of the army for security of workforce, cost $250 million
Havelian Dry Port	Feasibility study underway for the container port
Orange Line (Lahore Metro)	Approved
Upgrading of Gwadar International Airport	Approved
China-Pakistan Joint Cotton Bio-Tech Laboratory	Approved
Gwadar-Nawabshah LNG Terminal and Pipeline Project	Approved
70 MW Hydro-Electric Suki Kinari Hydropower Project	Approved
Port Qasim 2x660MW Coal-fired Power Plants	Approved
720 MW Karot Hydropower Project	Approved
Zonergy 9x100 MW solar project in Punjab	Approved
Jhimpir wind Power project	Approved
Thar Block II 3.8Mt/a mining Project	Approved
Thar Block II 2x330MW Coal Fired Power project	Approved
Development of Private Hydro Power Projects	Approved
Dawood Wind Power Project	Approved
Hubco Coal-fired Power Plant Project	Approved
Cross-border fibre optic data communication system project, a digital terrestrial multimedia broadcast pilot project at Murree	Approved

Source of above Table ( Wikipedia Article about CPEC) 

Green Line Shows actual CPEC (China Pak Economic corridor ) route which is much much shorter than the route now a days followed by china ( Red)

As you can see in above article Gwadar can save china billion of Dollars annually, because before Gwadar ships have to travel through the whole Indian ocean, it would create delays of 3 months in supplies. Moreover Pakistan's can root advantages through CPEC and connect it to Caspian countries.

According to Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying, the corridor will "serve as a driver for connectivity between South Asia and East Asia." Mushahid Hussain, chairman of the Pakistan-China Institute, told China Daily that the economic corridor "will play a crucial role in regional integration of the 'Greater South Asia', which includes China, Iran, Afghanistan, and stretches all the way to Myanmar."

This project will help Gwadar deliver its full capacity to help Pakistan to connect to Landlocked Central Asian states and China. Most Economic experts believe Pakistan can become an economic super power and control whole traffic of ships going to the Indian Ocean. The Pakistan Economic reserve will also boost up, 200 Million New Jobs will be created , hence no doubt Gwadar is a Golden Jewel of Pakistan.