Senate body for speedy work on road, rail links to Gwadar
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—Road and rail links with the Gwadar Port be developed and completed speedily alongwith other facilities to realize its full potential particularly with regard to facilitating exports so that it could emerge as a major economic hub in the region, observes the Senate Standing Committee on Ports & Shipping, which met at the Parliament House under the Chairpersonship of Senator Mrs. Gulshan Saeed on Monday
‘The Gwadar Port cannot be fully operational without having good quality, all-weather and dependable link-roads’, said the Committee members. They called upon the Government to accord the highest priority to the project. Taking cognizance of the peculiar conditions prevailing in Balochistan particularly the inhospitable terrain and other difficulties, the Senate body constituted a 3-member Committee headed by Senator Dr. Abdul Malik with Senators Dr. Muhammad Ismail Buledi and Mir Israrullah Khan as members to sort out issues with the locals especially regarding acquisition of land and security problems. The mandate of the Committee would be to act as an intermediary between NHA and local population / influentials so that the out standing issues may be resolved amicably c and speedily.
The Senate Committee was earlier informed that Gwadar, located at the tips of straits of Hurmuz / Persian Gulf, has an immense geo-political significance. As a full-fledged Deep Water Port in times to come, Gwadar has the potential to become a regional hub, an alternate to Gulf Ports and also a vital link to China and Central Asian Republics, thus attracting the transit and trans-shipment trade. Accordingly, Government of Pakistan decided to develop the Gwadar Port, in addition to the two existing ports at Karachi and Port Qasim.