CPEC's raison d'etre

The hype, the hopes and expectations from the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is growing by the day. Each province wants a piece of the pie; the Anglo-Saxon world also wants to join in; whereas local businesses and private sector individuals are also trying to grapple this latest game changer in town. However, the realisation that if it were not for Gwadar, there would not have been any CPEC is still to dawn on Pakistanis at large. This piece attempts to fill that knowledge gap.

For on,e Gwadar is a naturally deep port, which in port business is a significant advantage. Earlier this week, BR Research team was briefed by Col (Retd) Maqbool Afridi, former member of FPCCIs CPEC committee, and he highlighted how Gwadar offers the deepest port, and the biggest potential for berths compared to its peers in the region (See table).

Moreover, as Mark Goh the supply chain and logistics professor at National University Singapore told this newspaper late last month, Gwadar is on the right side of the bay; rather than the left side of the bay, which means it is protected from strong currents while being a deepwater port at the same time. (See Mark Gohs interview titled: 'Pakistan's aviation needs boost to capitalise on CPEC,' Dec 26, 2016)

Second, we do know that China is developing its western areas, and the development in the western areas is critical for her. Which is why Shenzhen in the East, Kashgar in the West" has become emblematic of the city's new status as an economic zone. Gwadar links Kashgar at the middle of Chinas OBOR, both as a hub for land route, and also as the hub for sea routes.

The significance of the latter can be gauged (see map) by the fact that unlike Dubai, Bandar Abbass or even Chabahar, Gwadar is sitting at the sweetest spot connecting this region with Europe, Africa at the one end and Central Asia, Afghanistan and China at the other.

Third, the geostrategic location does not merely stem from Gwadars heart-of-the-region location; it is its proximity to future growth centers that also matter. For instance, Kashgar is merely 3000 km from Gwadar, whereas it is 8000 km from eastern coast of China and from China east coast to Dubai is approx 15,000 km via sea.

Fourth, and Mr. Afridi pointed out, Chinese ports swarm the list of worlds top busiest ports (See table). Even if China diverts one-tenth of that traffic to Gwadar, then Gwadar could stand parallel to Dubai whereas merely 5 percent diversion would make Gwadar comparable to Japans Keihin and Long Beach in the US, which are ranked 20^th and 21^st busiest container ports (by volume), according to World Shipping Council.

The long story short, Gwadar is the very base of CPEC, just as CPEC is a key pillar of OBOR. The city must not be ignored; the media, the civil society, private sector businesses and of course the provincial and federal governments must play their respective roles to ensure that Gwadar gets up and running, and fast.