AFTER the completion of its first phase, Gwadar port is the focus of speculative trade in real estate as brokers are engaged in sale and purchase of property that does not exist but which is being planned for the future. Investors are being lured into buying industrial and residential plots in various schemes in and around Gwadar and also along the Mekran coastal highway on payment under different packages. The federal government has decided to set up a tax-free industrial zone in Gwadar and it has contacted the provincial government for acquiring 10,000 acres of land to set up such a zone. The housing schemes and high-rise construction on commercial plots are being planned like those in Dubai. The land is being sold to people from outside Balochistan at high prices. While buyers seem anxious to buy more land, brokers are also over-zealous.
There is a need to maintain proper record of sale and purchase of residential, commercial and industrial plots in every scheme so as to protect interests of investors. Developers must be bound to submit record to the Gwadar Development Authority about every transaction and complete details of buyer/seller of plots.
The prospects for lucrative business and profitable investment in real estate and construction sector have brightened since the official move to encourage setting up of hotels, motels, playgrounds, boating clubs, theme parks, marino and other recreation projects. The port city will be connected to the whole of country through land, sea and air links.
Balochistan decided to lift ban on transfer of land ownership rights in Gwadar in December last year. The decision was also applicable to the Sanghar Housing Scheme with immediate effect. The decision to increase the prices of residential and commercial plots in the phase-5 of the Sanghar Housing Scheme was also taken during the same period.
The same meeting also approved a project for the town’s grid station. It called for increasing the capacity of the grid station’s distribution system, to enable it to supply electricity to suburbs. The meeting urged officials to prepare a feasibility report about the installation of a desalination plant for supplying drinking water to Sanghar.
Housing projects are coming up virtually in all parts of the future port city. Plots for town houses are being booked by speculators rather than those who are looking for their ‘dream house’.
According to official sources, leading international investors have shown keen interest in the deep-seaport project due to Gwadar’s strategic location and potential for becoming a major trans shipment trade centre in the region. Pakistan-based Hashoo Group has recently launched in Dubai, the ‘Golden Palms’ - a real estate project targeting non-resident Pakistanis of the UAE as well as locals,.
The Golden Palms project spread over 1000 acres and lying between the new airport and the harbour, offers plots of 1,000 and 2,500 square yards with fully developed infrastructure at prices ranging between $40,000 and $100,000. The first part of the project is dedicated to a tourist resort located in the prime property near the beach. The Al-Ghurair Group is also exploring investment opportunities in the real estate and financial sectors in Gwadar.
At present, Gwadar has a population of 60,000 which may swell, according to some estimates, to at least a million people after the execution of various development schemes. Local people fear a change in the demography of the province through large-scale influx of outsiders which may reduce them to a minority in their province. Thus they also feel a threat to their identity.
The examples of Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Dubai, Sharjah, USA, U.K, Canada and a score of other regions may be cited where people have got together from different parts of the world joining hands with the local population in the development of the area.
In UAE, foreigners constituting the bulk of the population have never been able to buy their own property. They live in rented accommodation owned by UAE nationals. As per rule, a foreigner needs a local sponsor to do business in Dubai. The local population is the primary beneficiary of the development there.
The people of Balochistan should be given stake in their province’s development, as the local stakeholders can facilitate the steady and speedy development process. Their sense of alienation can be removed by bringing them on board and making them partners in development.
From another point of view, the local people would be primary beneficiery of the mega port project. The value of land owned by local population— barren or cultivable— will skyrocket, particularly in Gwadar, in in Mekran and in general after the completion of scores of projects.
At present, major groups belonging to Karachi and Punjab are engaged in real estate and construction business. The business groups and the tribal sardars should follow suit.