Due to high-level of risk in the region, Pakistani intelligence officers keep an eye on anyone visiting places near the Gwadar area, leading to more and inquiries and frustration for the locals.
What do you first imagine if we tell you about an airport which has a total capacity of 400,000 passengers? Luxury, security and advance features making the travel of passengers smooth? However, here is a story about an airport which is located in a city which is home to only 90,000 people, is not connected to the national grid and takes its power from its neigbouring country. Additional, the most shocking point about the city is, it doesn’t have sufficient drinking water available.
Azim Khalid, an expert on Pakistan-China relations, was quote saying in a report by News agency PTI that the airport is not for Pakistan or Gwadar but for China, so that their citizens can get safe access to Gwadar and Balochistan.
Ground situation at Gwadar
Due to high-level of risk in the region, Pakistani intelligence officers keep an eye on anyone visiting places near the Gwadar area, leading to more and inquiries and frustration for the locals.
“Earlier, no one used to ask where we are going, what we are doing and what is our name. We used to have picnics overnight in the mountains or rural areas”, Khuda Baksh Hashim, a 76-year-old resident of Gwadar was quoted saying in the report about the security in the region.
“We are asked to prove our identity, who we are, where we have come from. We are residents of this place. Those who ask should reveal their identity and who they are”, he added.
About Gwadar Airport
The airport, a donation by China, is a 4F-grade state-of-the-art facility that can handle the largest civil aircraft. Its 3,658-metre-long, 75-metre-wide runway, with specialised foundation treatment, sets a benchmark in engineering standards.
Designed to transform connectivity, the airport features a spacious apron with five slots for wide-body aircraft and plans for extensive cargo operations with a dedicated cargo shed and future expansions.
Addressing previous connectivity challenges, the airport will enable modern airlines to serve Gwadar, enhancing regional economic growth and positioning Gwadar as a transhipment hub linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Launched in 2013, CPEC, a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, is a corridor linking the Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan’s Balochistan province with Kashgar in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation in the first phase, while in the new phase expands to fields of agriculture and livelihood, among others.
(With inputs from agencies)