'New airport to become operational by June 2019,' says DG Gwadar Development Authority
In today's Brief Recording section, BR Research presents the last of our ongoing series of interviews that we conducted in our recent field visit to the sleepy coastal town of Gwadar (See also Brief Recording section January 23 & 27, 2017). While the first two interviews focused on Gwadar Port Authority and Gwadar Industrial Estate zone, respectively, today we focus on the city of Gwadar. And who better to talk to than the man in charge: Dr Sajjad Baloch.
Dr Sajjad is Director General of Gwadar Development Authority (GDA), who before joining the GDA had served in various capacities for the government of Balochistan. He earned his doctorate in civil engineering from the City University of New York. Aside from his academic (teaching and research) experience, Dr Sajjad has also been involved in many research activities in New York, including developing the guidelines for economic evaluation of highway projects, and conducting economic and financial feasibility studies of toll truck ways in the United States. He is a member of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), and is an affiliate of Transportation Research Board.
In this interview, Dr Sajjad talks about the city's plans, current and the likely revision, its infrastructural needs, the timelines during which some of the projects will be completed, and also sheds light on the reasons behind slow progress.
<B>BR Research: We would like to get down to the specifics of Gwadar city in terms of the targets and timelines for the city's hard and soft infrastructure. But before that we would like to know the population projections for Gwadar.</B>
<B>Sajjad Baloch:</B> The Gwadar city itself is nothing without its port. Development on the port leads to growth in the city. The current population of Gwadar city is around 0.1 million, which is projected to grow to around 1.7 million by 2050. The population projections were done back in 2003 but due to delay in port operations, the population did not grow as projected. We had projected it to be 0.135 million by 2010, but in 2016, we were still at 0.1 million. We are now in the process of revising the projections.
<B>BRR: GDA's master plan has allocated nearly 170,000 acres for residential purposes and 120,000 acres for industrial purposes. What's the wisdom behind this allocation?</B>
<B>SB:</B> That allocation is based on certain international standards that specify the ratio between industrial and residential usage of land as well as the population and industrial growth. However, Gwadar city's master plan is being revised to develop Gwadar as a Smart Port City on the orders of the Prime Minister. A Chinese company, FHDI, a subsidiary of China Communications Constructions Company, has been nominated for this task.
<B>BRR: Will the new master plan be made from scratch or will there only be tweaking to the old one?</B>
<B>SB:</B> No, the existing master plan will only be reviewed because the statistics did not turn out the way we had projected. However, this time they will incorporate the ICT and the concept of smart port city, since the Prime Minister wants Gwadar to be developed as a smart port city. Plus, there will be further integration of Gwadar port master plan and Gwadar city master plan.
<B>BRR: What is the GDA doing about water shortage?</B>
<B>SB:</B> Currently, the most critical issue is water and power. The demand for water is currently 4.6 million gallons per day, out of which around 2 to 2.5 million is taken from Akra Kaur Dam. By 2020, demand for water will reach 12 million gallons per day.
We have conceived two plans to address these needs. The first of these is to connect the city with fresh water reservoirs and dams. There is a CPEC project in which Swad Dam (67 kilometers from Gwadar) and Shadi Kaur Dam (160 km) will be connected to Gwadar city. This will provide 7.5 million gallons per day of additional water to Gwadar.
<B>BRR: Have these two dams been built and are operational or is there work to be done on those?</B>
<B>SB:</B> These dams have been completed. Swad Dam was completed by provincial resources and Shadi Kaur Dam was completed through federal resources. The inauguration of these two dams was done by the Prime Minister in November 2016.
The reason for having two dams was to have an alternate dam in case one of them is running dry. We can't leave the city entirely dependent on the rain water; hence a 5 million gallon per day desalination plant has been approved by the Planning Commission, and its framework has been agreed upon in the recent Joint Co-ordination Committee meeting in Beijing.
We have divided the project into three components. The first phase is to connect the Swad Dam with the city. This will start in the first week of February 2017 and will be completed by November 2017. The second phase is the desalination plant and to connect the Shadi Kaur Dam. This process will take four to five months to kick off these projects. It will be completed by August 2018 and will provide additional water of 12.5 million gallons per day. By 2020 or 2025, we will have sufficient water, even with the increased demand.
<B>BRR: Does the GDA have plans for treating waste water and solid waste once the city population goes up?</B>
<B>SB:</B> Absolutely, there is a treatment plant for waste water as well. The sewerage water does not go to the sea, but is treated instead, which is then used for agricultural purposes. The Government of Baluchistan has conceived a project for sewerage system for the existing town. The water will be treated and used to make the city greener.
The municipal committee is currently responsible for solid waste management but it is not efficient; hence a project has been conceived for this as well. Gwadar's solid waste is around 300 tonnes, but will increase to 3,000 tonnes per day as the population grows. We have selected a dumping site in the north, where some material will be recycled, while the rest will go to the dumping and composting site.
<B>BRR: What is the power situation in Gwadar? As we understand, things have not really got going on that front.</B>
<B>SB:</B> We are getting 70MW from Iran, which also caters to Turbat and Panjgur. Gwadar is getting only 14MW, which is way less than our demand of 30-35MW. As the port and the free zone become operational, the demand for power will grow. We have projected that by 2020, Gwadar would need 120MW, and that could go up to 500MW by 2030.
In order to meet this, there are two plans. One is a 300MW coal power plant, included in CPEC. There was a delay due to the Ministry of Water and Power's disagreement on demand projections, but now the Prime Minister has issued a directive regarding this. After this directive, there was a meeting of the Joint Co-ordination Committee in Beijing. The JCC directed the concerned authorities to issue the Letter of Intent within a week.
<B>BRR: How soon can we expect that project to start?</B>
<B>SB:</B> Well, the Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) issues a Letter of Intent and they take clearance from CPPA and NTDC, which has its own timelines. However, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has directed the power ministry to expedite the process. Recently, the Chinese power purchasing company visited Gwadar and selected a few sites. We have started the land acquisition process but formalities will take another six months.
Our target is to start the work in July 2017, after which it would take at least two years in commissioning. Meanwhile, the 70MW from Iran has been increased to 100MW. We have asked for 20MW of the additional 30MW, but we still await approval.
There is another 100MW scheme with Gwadar from Iran. The Iranian side has already done their work, the agreement had been signed ages ago, but there were problems due to the Iranian sanctions. Due to sanctions on Iran, Pakistan was having issues in financing this project. There are still some problems with the sanctions, even though they have been softly lifted. If this gets done, we will be getting the power in six months.