Gwadar's connectivity: Railways directed to brief on issues, hiccups & planning

Observing that Gwadar's connectivity with rest of the country through road network as well as railway line is critical, a parliamentary panel directed Pakistan Railways to give a detailed briefing on the current position, issues and hiccups as well as long-term planning on prospects of the same.

A meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development, which was presided over by Senator Agha Shahzaib Khan, after a detailed briefing by the Ministry of Planning and Development regarding Gwadar Port City Master Plan, also directed the ministry to ensure availability of funds through re-appropriation to Gwadar Development Authority (GDA). The committee also directed that remaining amount of Rs 13 billion from the Rs 25 billion allocated for business plan should also be released expeditiously.

The Ministry of Planning and Development assured to the committee that it would resolve the issue of availability of needed funds for Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) to pay liabilities and completion of Phase-II of the internal water distribution project.

Earlier, the director general GDA while giving briefing on Gwadar Smart Port City Master Plan stated that the concept of master plan has two elements including Gwadar city and Gwadar port, and the objectives are to create strategic objectives, make sustainable development and recommend means and interventions to develop Gwadar as a special economic district. He, further identifying Gwadar's competitive advantages, said that facilitating tourism, public private partnerships and industrial development are also among the objectives.

The committee was also informed that in order to make Gwadar a smart city, electricity supply and high speed internet are basic requirements, which are not available at present. The committee was further informed that an executive/technical committee and a steering committee are working on it. The master plan includes inception report, diagnostic report, alternative plan report and integrated report.

The official of GDA also informed that the short-term priority will be development of IT systems, medium-term priority will be to address challenges for sustainable development, and long-term priority will be to make efforts to achieve the goal of smart city. The city and port will give huge long-term benefits and revenue to the country but it has many prerequisites attached to it and multiple steps need to be taken to attract investment as well as make the population prosperous, he added.

According to the master plan, old town area comprises around 4,000 acres, 22,000 acres are for residential area, 19,000 acres for industrial area on East Bay, 10000 acres are for joint cantonment area, 4,000 acres are for airport area, 2,000 acres are for commercial area, 3000 acres are for central business district and 4000 acres will be recreational area on West Bay. There is a need for sustainable urban development with provision of one window operations, safe city project and invisible surveillance, besides providing solutions to core bottlenecks restraining urban development.

There is requirement of Rs 2 billion for paying liabilities and completion of Phase-II of the internal water distribution project, added the senior official of GDA.

Those attended the meeting were senators Shaheen Khalid Butt, Gianchand, Kauda Babar, Usman Khan Kakar and Mir Kabeer Shahi, secretary Planning, Development and Reforms, director general Gwadar Development Authority and officials from the ministry.