Gwadar, Balochistan, Pakistan

Gwadar Free Zone | Gwadar Port | New Gwadar International Airport

🇵🇰 Gwadar is a port city on the south-western coast of Balochistan, Pakistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea opposite Oman. Gwadar was an overseas possession of Oman from 1783 to 1958. It is about 120 km south-west of Turbat, while the sister port city of 🇮🇷 Chabahar in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan Province is about 170 km to the west of Gwadar.

The main industrial concern is a fish-processing factory; salt is obtained by the evaporation of seawater. Gwadar became part of the sultanate of Muscat and Oman in 1797, and it was not until 1958 that the town and adjoining hinterland were exchanged from Oman to Pakistan.

For most of its history, Gwadar was a small to medium-sized settlement with an economy largely based on artisanal fishing. The strategic value of its location was first recognised in 1954 when it was identified as a suitable site for a deep water port by the United States Geological Survey at the request of Pakistan while the territory was still under Omani rule. The area's potential to be a major deep water port remained untapped under successive Pakistani governments until 2001, when construction on the first phase of Gwadar Port was initiated. The first phase was inaugurated in 2007 at a total cost of $248 million. The port initially remained underutilised after construction for a variety of reasons, including lack of investment, security concerns, and the Government of Pakistan's failure to transfer land as promised to the port operator, Port of Singapore Authority.

In April 2015, Pakistan and China announced their intention to develop the $46 billion China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which in turn forms part of China's ambitious One Belt, One Road. Gwadar features heavily in CPEC, and is also envisaged to be the link between the One Belt, One Road and Maritime Silk Road project. $1.153 billion worth of infrastructure projects will be invested into the city as part of CPEC, with the aim of linking northern Pakistan and western China to the deep water seaport. The city will also be the site of a floating liquefied natural gas facility that will be built as part of the larger $2.5 billion Gwadar-Nawabshah segment of the Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline project. In addition to investments directly under the aegis of CPEC in Gwadar city, the China Overseas Port Holding Company in June 2016 began construction on the $2 billion Gwadar Special Economic Zone, which is being modelled on the lines of the special economic zones of China. In September 2016 the Gwadar Development Authority published a request for tenders for the preparation of expropriation and resettlement of Old Town Gwadar. Mayor of gawadr is Mulana Hidayat ur rehman From Jamat e islami.

Gwadar Free Zone The construction on a $20 billion 10-square kilometre tax exempt industrial zone began on 20 June 2016. The zone includes a 300MW plant exclusive for the industrial zone.

Gwadar Port China has a great strategic interest in Gwadar. In 2013, the state-owned China Overseas Port Holdings Limited acquired Gwadar Port. The port is strategically important for China as sixty percent of China's oil comes from the Persian Gulf by ships travelling over 16,000 km (9,900 mi) in two to three months, confronting pirates, bad weather, political rivals, and other risks up to its only commercial port, Shanghai. Gwadar will reduce the distance to a mere 5,000 km (3,100 mi) and also operate year-round.

China is heavily dependent on Persian Gulf oil which passes through the Strait of Malacca all the way through the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Once the oil reaches China's east coast ports, it is transported thousands of km inland to western China. The Gwadar port-Karakoram Highway (KKH) route is sometimes said to be safer, cheaper and shorter than transporting the oil by ocean tanker. However, research suggests that transporting oil by roadways from Gwadar to China would be very expensive, would encounter numerous logistical difficulties such as mountainous terrain, earthquakes, disputes with India, and potential terrorist attacks, and would barely make any impact on China's overall energy security, though Pakistan intends to build an oil pipeline to northern Pakistan that may allay much of these concerns.

Chinese goods flowing in the opposite direction may be able to find an easier, shorter and secure route to the Middle East. The city is also being developed as an export processing zone for foreign companies to manufacture in Gwadar before exporting to various countries in the region.

New Gwadar International Airport Due to the Chinese interest in the Gwadar Port, Pakistan believes that Gwadar will become a regional hub, Prime Minister Imran Khan has laid down the foundation stone for the New Gwadar International Airport (NGIAP) at Gwadar on 29 March 2019. New Gwadar international airport is located in Gurandani which is around 26 km (16 mi) north-east of Gwadar city in Balochistan province. It is expected to cost $246 million with an area of 1,700 ha (4,300 acres) and it will be able to handle big aircraft such as the A380. The new airport will cater to domestic and international flights and will have open skies policy. It will be a Greenfield airport with a cargo terminal handling capacity of 30,000 tonnes a year. It will have a single runway of 3,658 m (12,001 ft) length and width of 75 m (246 ft) to accommodate wide body aircraft, however an option to build a 2nd runway in future is also feasible. CAA Pakistan has awarded the design and construction contract to the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), It is expected to be completed in 2022.

Karachi Time 
Karachi Time
Image: Photo by Muhammad Jawaid Shamshad on Unsplash

Gwadar has a population of over 90,762 people. Gwadar also forms the centre of the wider Gwadar District which has a population of over 263,514 people.

To set up a UBI Lab for Gwadar see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Gwadar has links with:

🇨🇳 Puyang, China 🇨🇳 Zhuhai, China
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Gwadar is: -117.683,-25.117

Locations Near: Gwadar 62.3167,25.1167

🇵🇰 Gwadar District 63.333,25.333 d: 105.1  

🇵🇰 Turbat 63.061,26.004 d: 123.7  

🇮🇷 Chābahār 60.632,25.299 d: 170.7  

🇴🇲 Muttrah 58.567,23.617 d: 414.8  

🇴🇲 Muscat 58.55,23.6 d: 417.1  

🇴🇲 Ibra 58.55,22.683 d: 468.8  

🇵🇰 Hub 66.917,25.067 d: 463.2  

🇮🇷 Zahedan 60.864,29.496 d: 507.6  

🇵🇰 Karachi 67.01,24.85 d: 473.9  

🇴🇲 Rustaq 57.42,23.399 d: 531.8  

Antipodal to: Gwadar -117.683,-25.117

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 16615.9  

🇵🇪 Talara -81.267,-4.567 d: 15508.8  

🇵🇪 Chiclayo -79.844,-6.764 d: 15508.5  

🇵🇪 Piura -80.633,-5.2 d: 15489.5  

🇵🇪 Trujillo -79.034,-8.103 d: 15506.7  

🇵🇪 Máncora -81.05,-4.1 d: 15459.7  

🇵🇪 Chimbote -78.583,-9.067 d: 15515.3  

🇵🇪 Callao -77.15,-12.067 d: 15524.3  

🇵🇪 Ancón -77.15,-11.733 d: 15508.7  

🇵🇪 San Isidro -77.033,-12.083 d: 15513.6  

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