Soon after three gunmen attacked Gwadar PC earlier this month, some sections of foreign press started raising question marks over continuity of Gwadar Port and the CPEC. That reading is wrong since Pakistan’s army is demonstrably well trained to fight terrorism whereas a host of independent scholars point out that the Chinese are not deterred by such attacks. But whether one can have similar degree of confidence over the governance structure and urban design of Gwadar city itself is a question not frequently being asked among CPEC-related policy and academic circles.
A recently published study by the International Growth Centre attempts to fill that gap. Titled “The institutional and urban design of Gwadar City” the study investigates governance, economic development, and urban design of Gwadar port and the city. Some of the insights warrant serious attention.
For instance, while the port comes under the jurisdiction of Gwadar Port Authority (GPA), part of the free zone at the port falls under the jurisdiction of the Balochistan Development Authority, which is a provincial authority. Outside the port, the city falls under the jurisdiction of Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) provincial entity. Yet “two housing societies i.e. Singhar and New Town are still being dealt by the Deputy Commissioner.”
In other words, “there is not a single agency that can steer the development of the city, oversee the provision of service delivery, and promote investments.” In Chinese and other international economic cities, mayors hold key administrative and economic powers that make decision making easier and efficient. However, Pakistani laws currently do not allow the same, which leads to issue of two speeds development.
“While the COPHCL is developing state of the art infrastructure to make the port operational as soon as possible, government authorities seem to be doing little to prepare Gwadar city for the up-coming economic activities in this region,” the study notes. The difference in these two speeds is creating challenges to the success of Gwadar and resultantly the CPEC.
The study’s authors (Naveed Iftikhar, an urban studies scholar, and others) recommend that the mandate and capacity of GDA is strengthened to make it a central agency to steer development, service delivery, and investment promotion. At the very least there is a need to find a way to reduce overlaps with the municipal corporation, office of the Deputy Commissioner, and other federal and provincial government organisations. However, the study argues, that before embarking on the strengthening of GDA, considerable attention should be given to transforming its “governance and accountability structure”.
They also propose to consider giving Gwadar city a share in federal government’s revenues from Gwadar Port so that the city has some own funds for infrastructure and services. That may not be doable solution. At the one end, a fiscally constrained centre might not like to part with its money, and at the other end, it might set a precedent for Karachi city to demand a share in revenues from Karachi’s two ports. That said, a city that is to be key driver of CPEC ought to have some sources of self-generated revenues.
Whether or not one agrees with some of the policy proposals offered by the study, the important thing is to start a discourse on Gwadar city’s governance and urban design. Granted as the report said, some aspects of Gwadar may be kept secret to safeguard national interests, but those pertaining to the life and governance of the city itself must be brought to light and well debated. While Gwadar is uniquely positioned for CPEC and BRI, there are other ports in the region that vie for business. A failure to create an efficient system of governance in Gwadar could “translate into a failure to attract sufficient business and create a self-sustaining economy” in the long run.
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