ISLAMABAD: The commercialisation of Gwadar Port, built more than a decade ago, remains a non-starter, turning the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure facility into a white elephant instead of becoming a transhipment hub.

This was the gist of a high-level meeting on the operationalisation of Gwadar Port called on the directives of the prime minister and presided over by Planning and Dev­elopment Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who blamed high-ups of the Ministry of Mari­time Affairs (MoMA) and National Logis­tics Cell (NLC) for lack of marketing and non-professional handling of ‘crown jewel’ of $50bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Highly informed sources said all the stakeholders, including the government, were at unease over the fact that Gwadar had not kept pace with similar other facilities in the region and thus did not offer promised business and employment opportunities to the locals in the absence of trade activities. This, coupled with poor civic facilities like water and electricity shortages, they believed, was being exploited by external factors, leading to repeated unrest and protests.

Therefore, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a recent meeting, ordered the routing of 60pc of all public sector cargoes through Gwadar to at least trigger port activities and directed the planning minister to look into the matter and rep­ort back as to why the port has not picked up and suggest corrective measures.

Planning minister admits multibillion-dollar facility remains a non-starter, becoming ‘white elephant’

At the outset, the minister noted with concern the absence of Balochistan government representation while the operationalisation of Gwadar was under discussions. “Unfortunately, nothing has been done for marketing of transshipment cargos”, the minister was quoted as telling the participants adding the relevant authorities had failed to tell reach out to shipment companies and traders abroad to explain how shipments from China through Gwad­­ar could be cheaper than traditional routes.

This comparative analysis for competitive marketing should have been in full swing two years ago to generate trade and shipment activities and provide employment opportunities to the local people. “Without port activities and business opportunies, (Gwadar) port has been turned into a while elephant”, he said.

He deplored that CARs were ready to transport their cargos through Gwadar but “we have not been able to prepare a business strategy for commercialisation”, adding that the friendly governments and relevant shipping stakeholders in CARs should have been pursued through attractive marketing. “We should learn from neighbouring countries who build product reputations abroad and garner consumer attention even before the products are rolled out”, he said.

The minister directed the relevant authorities to hire an international consultant which could workout cost benefit analysis of shipments through Gwadar in comparison with other ports in the region, could explain how shorter could be this route along with shipment duration and costs etc to attract business through Pakistani missions abroad. He told all the participants that whatever they say in the meeting would be reported to the prime minister for implementation.

The minister also criticised the NLC for expensive rates for cargoes through Gwadar and advised them not to think in terms of one-cargo but greater revenue through 10-15 cargoes at cheaper rate.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2025