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Life
in the Arabian Sea fishing town of Gwadar, whose only claim
to fame until now has been as a spot through which Alexander
the Great executed his retreat from India in 325 BC, is
undergoing a cataclysmic change.
This
mega deep seaport is under construction at a cost of a
quarter of a billion dollars, and if the vision of Pakistan's
leaders and the Chinese builders is realized, it will be
transformed into a futuristic gateway for trade to the
landlocked Central Asia.
Lying
at the edge of the Makran desert- where three-quarters
of Alexander's retreating troops perished- and the mouth
of the Persian Gulf, Gwadar was ruled from across the waters
by Oman until 1958, when Pakistan bought it from Muscat
for Rs90 million ($1.5 million). It was a worthwhile investment.
Pakistan
and its most trusted ally China signed a deal last year
to build the 248-million-dollar deep seaport, aiming for
completion by March 2005, Gwadar Port Development Authority
chairman Rear Admiral Sarfraz Khan said.
The
aim is to take on other Gulf ports, particularly Jebel
Ali of the United Arab Emirates and Oman's Salalah, and
offer the landlocked Central Asian states their most efficient
warm water access to both the West and the East.
"It
was a long-standing desire of these states to reach hot
waters and now we have ourselves offered this opportunity
to them," Mr Khan said.
"Gwadar
will be the shortest route for the Central Asian states
and their proposed East and West-bound oil exports if the
plan goes well."
Goods
shipped into Gwadar will be taken by road to Pakistan's
western neighbour Afghanistan, where a road network will
take them to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and deeper
into Central Asia.
China
is funding three-quarters of the project, supplying $198
million in a mixture of loans and grants, and Islamabad
the remaining $50 million.
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