By Khuzaima Shahid
Gwadar Port Authority was established as an organization, after promulgation of the GPA Ordinance No. LXXVII of 2002 dated 17 October 2002, for construction, operations, management and maintenance of Gwadar Deep Water Port. Gwadar Port is the second great monument of Pak-China friendship after Karakoram Highway linking Pakistan and China.
As an auspicious development in Pakistan-China relations, President Zardari commended the contract's award to China and expressed his optimism that it would open up new economic prospects for Pakistan and Balochistan. The port's potential seems good on paper. Currently, it has enough room for two or three huge ships with a 50,000 deadweight tonnage capacity. It will be able to dock 150 ships and 400 million tons of cargo by 2045. The Pakistani government claims that a working Gwadar port—the nation's third deep sea port—will satiate the"growing demand for trade" that the two current ports of Karachi and Qasim are"unlikely to maintain pace with" on its own.
For Pakistan, the port is of crucial strategic and economic importance. After Karachi and Qasim ports, it is Pakistan's third-most important deep sea port. It is situated at a crossroads of global oil commerce and maritime shipping routes. Pakistan may use Gwadar as a centre for its foreign trade. Three geographical areas—Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East—would be linked by Gwadar Port. It would create new employment possibilities and aid in Baluchistan's growth.