China to undertake $794Mln Highway project in Pakistan ‘Pakistan Times’ National News Desk
BEIJING (China): China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a state-owned construction firm has completed the feasibility study of Karakoram Highway project, for its renovation and expansion.
"Administrative and financial arrangements are being worked out with the Pakistani authority to initiate the project as soon as possible, said sources with China’s Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (ASAC) here Thursday…
The total estimated cost of the project is $794 million. It was suggested that 90 per cent of the cost will be met by the balance of the preferential export buyer’s credit ($500) committed by the government of China in November, 2003 while the remaining 10 per cent will be financed by the government of Pakistan. Other potential sources will be sought in case of any shortfall…
Re: China to undertake $794Mln Highway project in Pakistan
^^ Excellent News.
I really don't know why the Baluchis are whining about?
We are building Highways, Roads, Schools, Universities, Ports...
Money is being poured into Balochistan and yet they keep whining.
I think the Balochis still want tribal rule of law and are resisting change and blame the government for their stupidity and their failure to modernize
Re: China to undertake $794Mln Highway project in Pakistan
"It was suggested that 90 per cent of the cost will be met by the balance of the preferential export buyer's credit ($500) committed by the government of China in"
Re: China to undertake $794Mln Highway project in Pakistan
I really don't know why the Baluchis are whining about?
We are building Highways, Roads, Schools, Universities, Ports...
Money is being poured into Balochistan and yet they keep whining.
I think the Balochis still want tribal rule of law and are resisting change and blame the government for their stupidity and their failure to modernize
Its landlords and people like Bugti who carry out these sort of attacks. They don't want the people under their influence to get educated or get other privileges from the government, because if they do, the people will revolt against the rulers who have kept them in the dark ages, and join with the rest of Pakistan.
The average Baloch isn't whining, but only a small portion which is composed of landlords & people under their influence. Keeping these areas undeveloped and uneducated is what keeps these landlords in control.
Re: China to undertake $794Mln Highway project in Pakistan
What does that mean?
Who cares, as long as the Chinese are paying 90% of the cost. They've already built a road from Karachi to Gwadar for $210 million... all expenses paid by the friendly Chinese.
*What are the Gwadaris getting out of the multibillion-dollar seaport planned around their ancient village? *
In 1992, when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced the construction of a deep seaport at Gwadar, the coastal population of Mekran was ecstatic. Some 12 years later, as the dream is about to come true, they seem less happy. **The period has seen a land-grabbing stampede by strangers from Sindh and the Punjab, with jobs being doled out from offices in Karachi and the Gwadaris being left with nothing but the looming prospect of mass dislocation. **
Much of the problem stems from the failure of the government to involve Gwadar’s people in drawing up the city’s master plan and preparing them for vocations suited to a metropolitan seaport likely to create 2.5 million jobs. On the contrary, every development has come on the spur of the moment, from the top-secret drawers of state institutions such as the communications ministry, the national highway authority, the Pakistan Navy and the National Engineering Service of Pakistan. Even the Gwadar district government or the government in Quetta have had no clue.
The fishing village of Gwadar consists of a “hammerhead” - a piece of mountain about 10 kilometres long, two kilometres wide and 200 meters high - connected to the mainland by a narrow 6-kilometre sandbank formed due to the action of swells and currents. The latest master plan incorporates the hammerhead and the isthmus into port-related establishments, and locals fear the entire village will be relocated in light of a government announcement declaring Gwadar a sensitive defence zone.
But there is no resettlement plan in the works, and no land available for the purpose. Inland from Gwadar village and for hundreds of kilometres on either side of the coastal highway, land has been acquired by developers and builders for private housing schemes. Where the isthmus converges with the mainland, a large chunk of land has been appropriated by the Pakistan Navy. Gwadar’s only boys’ college near tills location is not shown in the master plan.
The Pakistan Navy has also occupied the eastern portion of the hammerhead. The land lies adjacent to the famous Sangar residential scheme launched by the government in the 1990s. This scheme was recently cancelled by the provincial government which argued that its approach route passed through the port area. Subsequently, there have been indications that some elements that supported federal education minister Zubaida Jalal in the elections have been seeking to acquire about 1700 acres of land west of Sangar on the hammerhead. The court has since reinstated the scheme.
Acquisition of land outside the port area, which is owned either by the fishermen or inland farmers, poses a serious threat to the Gwadar master plan. Settlement officials in Gwadar, in connivance with influential elements in Quetta and Islamabad, have been recording false transfer deeds in the name of fake owners who in turn have sold thousands of acres of land to developers and other interested individuals. There is widespread unrest among the real-estate owners and endless disputes are expected when the actual acquisition begins.
Another problem is jobs. The only local manpower employed en bloc by the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) so far is the 54 workers of the fish harbour who, despite being promised regularisation by President Pervez Musharraf in person, had to resort to a year-long agitation to force its fulfilment. Only about a dozen locals have received a share in the hundreds of low-grade jobs offered by the GPA since then, mostly due to sustained community pressure that all jobs of grade 10 and below should go to locals.
A multi-storey GPA office building was inaugurated in Gwadar last June but the only person who sits there is the estate office. The rest of the establishment is located in Karachi even though the first phase of the seaport is nearly complete. The chairman, a retired vice admiral of the Pakistan Navy, Sarfaraz Khan, is extremely unpopular among the people of Gwadar. To appease them, former Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali is believed to have moved relevant quarters to replace him with Akbar Pasnani, a native Gwadari and a senior Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) official. However, while Sarfaraz is still the chairman, Pasnani has been appointed as chairman implementation, a bizarre designation.
Jobs in the GPA as well as for the coastal highway projects are usually advertised in only the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad newspapers. Interviews for jobs in the G.PA are held in Karachi while those for the coastal highway in Islamabad. Given the poverty and scanty means of transportation in Mekran, both places are inaccessible to the local population.
This situation is creating suspicions regarding the government’s intentions. After 55 years of neglect, Gwadar is suddenly home to three major projects: the seaport, the coastal highway and Mirani Dam. The government treats all projects as separate development schemes designed to improve the quality of life in Gwadar, but Gwadaris see them as complementary projects for a port city that is not going to be shaped and run by the Gwadaris. With a naval base at Ormara, inaugurated in 2000, and the planned augmentation of an airbase at Pasni, leaders such as Nawab Akbar Bugti are alleging a conspiracy by Islamabad to separate Gwadar from Balochistan and hand it over to the Americans.
Re: China to undertake $794Mln Highway project in Pakistan
How Korakaram Highly being linked to bugti???, guys this highway is far far away from blochistan iteself in upnorth hamalyas. it was constructed before, now its being upgraded.
One note for Gawader, whenever there is mega city or project get developed, people with money always come their to have business there, no matter where they are from. living examples are Dubai, Karachi, Lahore etc.
Blochistan alone cant fulfil requirements of manpower required, plus its not provincial or local project, project as of this scale get national resources and also people from all over the country.
How many Lahorites are original Lohaorites??? How many Karachities are originals? its a common pheonmenon, economic migration happens every where in the world.