BEIJING
Pakistan Ambassador to China Masood Khalid Tuesday said the development work is in progress on Gwadar port and expressed the confidence that it would be fully operational in three to four years.
A power plant is being set up there to provide electricity to the city and to the port and existing airport and highways are being expanded and built in Gwadar.
“In three to four years, Gwadar will become a different city, and Gwadar port will be fully operational,” he said during an exclusive interview with Chinese media.
“In fact, ships have now started arriving and they are bringing cargo and equipment for the work on the port. All in all the progress is good. We need to work faster on the airport. We need the airport as soon as possible, and the roads,” he added.
On how would Gwadar contribute to the region’s economy and security, he said Gwadar is an important port in terms of its location and it is very close to the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, and it will link up with China.
Ambassador Khalid said the idea is that exports from China pass along this road, reach Gwadar, and are then transshipped to Africa and Europe. In terms of distance and cost, Gwadar will be very competitive, adding, “I am confident that it will gain momentum in the years to come.”
He said the port will serve the commercial and business interests not only of Pakistan but also of China and of the other countries in the region.
Pakistan and China are mutual neighbours of several Central Asian countries, so Gwadar port will give a big impetus to the economic development of the entire region, he said.
He said there are projects, there are jobs, and the infrastructure has improved, so the CPEC is contributing to the socio-economic development of Pakistan and to the welfare of the Pakistani people.
Ambassador Khalid said the actual work started somewhere in 2015. He added that “What we did was that we divided the concept into various actionable programs, projects related to the power sector, to infrastructure, to development of Pakistan’s port, and to set up industrial and economic zones.”
Commenting on the opportunities for the people living along the route of the corridor, he said the CPEC development is a project because it means concrete on the ground projects and also mentioned infrastructure projects, the port, and power projects.
Ambassador Khalid said under this program, some major projects have already entered service. Last month in July the inauguration of the first coal-based power plant – more than 1,300 megawatts took place in the Punjab province. Other similar projects, also big in scale, are likely to be operational by the end of this year.
He said the government aims to overcome a power shortfall that the country has been facing for many years, which was impeding ‘our’ economic development.
