Gwadar port expected to become Pakistan’s edition of Shenzhen

BEIJING: Gwadar port is to become Pakistan’s vital port, along with a particular economic zone, which is predictable to build up into Pakistan’s version of Shenzhen.

According to Huang Renwei, vice president of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Gwadar Port has inducted an industrial park covering quite a lot of square kilometers as the first phase of the plan. A number of companies are enthusiastic to enter the park.

He said Pakistan has intended to open nine industrial parks in order to attain foreign investment and particularly this step is not just from Chinese companies but also from the companies around the globe. He is overwhelmed by the China-Pakistan highway, which is also known as the Karakoram Highway.

He further added that this highway’s construction started in the early 1960s, but presently China and Pakistan started its phase II scheme, consisting the expansion and reconstruction of the Karakoram Highway.

The Chinese companies are actively participating in infrastructure construction work in Pakistan, with an investment of almost $19 billion, and that too into 20 major ventures. These ventures consist of China Three Gorges Corp and China Gezhouba Group, the main builders of power stations in Pakistan to resolve electricity deficiency, whereas, Huawei Technologies has facilitated to enhance Pakistan’s communications system.

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Regardless of very close political relationship between China and Pakistan, still people in both the countries have had inadequate contact, which may result into problems, as CPEC is in the progressive stage.

Huang concluded by saying that $19 billion a fund provided to Pakistan by China is not aid, because more than $18 billion of that amount was an investment. Therefore, it is obvious investment cannot be termed as aid.