THE recent flooding in Gwadar was more because of ill-planning and incapability than the ravages of the climate change phenomenon. Just two days of a heavy rain spell was enough to expose the tall claims of development and modern infrastructure, as the entire Gwadar city got inundated and remained that way for several days.

For years, the government in Islamabad has said that the poor coastal city will soon be transformed into a metropolis akin to Singapore, Dubai, Shenzhen, or Shanghai. Since 2007, when Islamabad signed an accord with the operator of Singapore port to take control of Gwadar city, we have heard such promises. However, despite the passage of many years, little has changed. Instead, access to drinking water has become a primary concern for the city’s residents.

In subsequent years, assurances were held out that Gwadar would soon rival Dubai. In 2013, the outgoing government handed over the port in Gwadar to China, promising that the city would evolve into an industrial hub similar to Shanghai and Shenzhen. Despite these claims, the lifestyle of Gwadar residents has remained largely unchanged. In fact, with the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), security measures have been tightened close to the shore, affecting the livelihoods of poor fishermen and ordinary people who relied on the sea and informal trade with Iran.

For years, the primary sources of employment for Gwadar and Makran residents were fishing, trading with Iran, and working in the Gulf. However, two of these sources are now at risk due to security concerns in the name of develop- ment. Even then there was a proposal a few years ago to fence off the entire Gwadar city to protect Chinese interests. It did not come to fruition only because the proposal met with resistance from the locals. Nevertheless, even today, Gwadar remains divided between ‘old’ and ‘new’ components, with the Gwadar Eastbay Expressway exacerbating this division. The six-lane road catering to traffic to and from the port runs for around 19km and its level is four feet above the ground. This road was the main cause of recent flooding in Gwadar. When the so-called Gwadar smart city master plan was being designed, it was ill-planned, not in accordance with the city’s old infra- structure, and lacked a new drainage and sewerage system.

When the heavy rain fell continuously, the water was unable to take its traditional path to the sea due to the expressway and a large wall surrounding the port. Thus the water began accumulating, eventually making its way back to the old part of the city, flooding it completely.

Gwadar’s flooding is a story more of human ill-planning and less of climate change, even though climate change is a reality. Balochistan is worst affected by it due to unprecedented rains and heatwaves. Yet, the authorities did little while designing the so-called master plan for the city.

Despite all the tall development claims, the local administration did not have a proper machinery to drain the water when the whole city stood submerged. The city administration had no proper mechanism to issue early warnings to the fishermen whose boats were left under the open sky and were damaged by the rainfall.

After the rain, the whole of Gwadar remained disconnected from other towns, cities and regions, and people from Jiwani and Surbandar struggled to reach Gwadar to receive emergency medical aid as there was no proper medical infrastruc-ture in those towns.

Gwadar hosts the main hospital owned by the Gwadar Development Authority (GDA), and it struggled to deal with an emergency-like situation. Incapacity, incapability of authorities and ill-planning resulted in flooding in Gwadar. Period.

Dr Mahrang Baloch
Quetta

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2024