Pak-China Economic Corridor is
an under-construction development project to link Gwadar Port in southern
Pakistan to China’s north-west area of Xinjiang by means of highways, railways
and pipelines. When completed, this route will be used as a primary gateway for
trade between China and the Middle East and Africa. Economic Corridor is not
only the road to economic prosperity for Pakistan; but would be beneficial for
the people of entire world. Approximately 3 billion people from China, South
Asia and Central Asia, would benefit from this project.
This is the most significant pact signed between Pakistan and China till now,
and it will stretch the depth and breadth of their bilateral strategic
relations. This project is not a game changer but a fate changer for Pakistan.
Gwadar Port is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf just outside the Strait
of Hormuz, near the key shipping routes ingress and egress of the Persian Gulf.
It is present on the eastern gulf of a natural bluff extending into the Arabian
Sea from the coastline. When the corridor is constructed, it will serve as a
major gateway for trade between China, Middle East and Africa through Pakistan.
Particularly, oil from the Middle East could be offloaded at Gwadar Port, which
is present just outside the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The oil would be
transported to China through Baluchistan province in Pakistan. Such a link would
vastly cut the 12000 km route that Mideast oil supplies must currently take to
reach Chinese port.
The project received a major uplift when control of Gwadar was transferred to
China’s state-owned China Overseas Ports Holding in February 2013. Pakistan has
signed numerous agreements with the Chinese government including construction of
an international airport at Gwadar, upgrading a section of 1300 km Karakorum
Highway (Rajkot- Islamabad), construction of Cross-border Optical Fibre Cable
System between Sino-Pak, the Engro Thar Coal Fired Power Plant between Sindh
Engro Coal Mining Company and China Development Bank Corporation, Framework
Facility Agreement on Sukhi-Kinari Hydro Power Project, Karachi-Lahore motorway,
construction of Havelian Dry Port and many others agreements of paramount
importance. China has promised to invest 34 billion dollars in energy sector and
11 billion dollars for development projects in Pakistan which will be completed
by 2017 at most.
In order to make the economic zone operational, the Chinese government has been
involved in constructing a multi-billion-dollar New Kashgar City, where Kashgar
Special Economic Zone is being constructed. With its juxtaposition to Pakistan
and a flying time of around 1 hour, Kashgar-Gwadar Economic Corridor comprises
of 6600 acres of land, will bring a revolutionary development in Pakistan, India
and beyond. The Chinese government plans to accomplish this economic zone by
year 2020 and industrialists have been offered tax-free zone and other
government concessions.
Recently, there were rumors that the government is changing the route of the
economic corridor due to which the people of FATA, KPK, Balochistan expressed
their reservations on the issue. The joint opposition parties in parliament also
protested against any change in the original plan. The ANP alleged that the
PML-N government had altered the route that could deprive parts of KPK from
benefits of such an important economic corridor. However, China has confirmed
that there is no change in the route of economic corridor and the two countries
have actually agreed on a single route which is the one being under development
at the moment. Hence, this removes many doubts and misinformation floating
around in the country.
Sino-Pak economic corridor, undoubtedly, has the potential to turn Pakistan into
pivot of regional cooperation. If Pakistan uses this opportunity wisely and is
able to harvest the economic benefits this corridor has to offer, it can
considerably strengthen its regional power and esteem and prove a more priceless
long-term ally for Beijing. This project would also bring development and
prosperity to the people of around ten developing nations.