Pak-China Economic Corridor: Beginning of Prosperity and Development

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.