After becoming fully operational, the Gwadar Port and Gwadar Free Zone would generate economic activities of around USD 10 billion per annum, said China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa on Monday.

“Soon after completion of the Gwadar Free Zone, a lot of manufacturing and trading activities will start; cargoes will move, and trans-shipment activities will increase,” he said while talking to the media.

Asim Bajwa said: “We will continue to monitor the development work in Gwadar till all the projects become fully operational.”

He informed that the port’s infrastructural work had been completed by the China Port Holding Company at a cost of around USD 300 million, and all four berths were fully operational.

During the last few months, over 67,000 metric tons of cargo had been handled at the port, comprising consignments mostly under the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement, which were later transported to Afghanistan, The News reported.

“Now our full emphasis is to increase the port traffic for which we are pursuing the logistic companies to establish their offices in the city,” Asim Bajwa said.

As regards the Gwadar Port Free Zone, he said its first phase spreading over 60 acres of land had already been completed, with 47 enterprises registered.

Six factories had been completed, three of them now fully operational, while six others were under construction. For the last three years, he said, both the port and free zone had created some 1,200 direct jobs, while 12,000 more persons were hired for building the support infrastructure.

Asim Bajwa said the second phase of Gwadar Port Free Zone would spread over 2,221 acres of land and Prime Minister Imran Khan would perform its groundbreaking. He said for the second phase, the China Port Holding Company had already lined up an investor, who would need some 1,600 acres of land. The investor had pledged a direct investment of USD 3 billion in the single industry that would create 30,000 jobs.

Asim Bajwa pointed out that the Eastbay Expressway would directly take the cargo from port to M-8 for onward shipment to Karachi and the rest of the country. Some 94 percent of work on the expressway had been completed, which would hopefully be inaugurated in September.

Similarly, he said, the work on Gwadar Airport was also going on at a fast pace while the technical and vocational institutes in the city would also be completed in October.

He said the prime minister had specifically directed that maximum job opportunities be created in the area through capacity building of the local youth by imparting skill training.

The CPEC Authority chairman said a 150-bed hospital, gifted by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the residents, was under construction in Gwadar city.

He said the master plan of Gwadar City had also been approved, and it was now at the implementation stage.

Asim Bajwa said the development of the agriculture sector was a key focus area under CPEC. In that regard, he held a meeting with the agriculture community from Mirani and other areas of the province.

Six Chinese companies were ready to sign lease agreements for 32,500 acres of land, on which they would develop a unique model of corporate farming. It would be the first agriculture model farm in Balochistan as similar models were being executed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces as well, he added.

About the reservations of fishermen after the development of Eastbay Expressway, he said three bridges were under construction to address their concerns.

CPEC is a collection of infrastructure projects that are under construction throughout Pakistan since 2013. Originally valued at USD 47 billion, the projects were estimated to be worth USD 62 billion as of 2020. Gwadar Port and Gwadar Free Zone are key components of CPEC.

(SAM)