"The Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) has registered four companies for trade and business. Investment promotion work for the initial pilot zone area has been completed. The total investment exceeds RMB 3 billion at Gwadar. The companies which have invested included Hangzhou Li Chi Co for project 'Pipe factory (production line of HDPE and FRP pipe), YU FEI Marine Co for project fish processing plants and cold storage, Linyi Trade City for project of products display, sale and storage, JOLTA Teach Co for assembly of electric motorcycles and CCCC for established of Business Centre Project," Chairman Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) Dostain Khan Jamaldini told Islamabad-based journalists who visited Gwadar port last week.
He said that Pakistan would get a new driving force for economic growth with up to 2-3 percent growth in GDP, and this will remove bottlenecks in economic growth (energy shortage and poor transport infrastructure). He said that business activities would create new jobs, energy security, modern transport infrastructure, maritime development, trade and commerce, agriculture/water, industrial growth/supply chain, tourism, and human resources development.
During the visit of five-storey Gwadar Free Zone business centre, which is in final stages of completion, he showed various apartments of the centre. There has been established one window operation centre as well. The officials of all relevant departments including finance, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and others will sit together and complete documents for investors under one roof, he said.
He said that conference rooms have been established for the facility of investors. Replying to a question, he said that at present two major projects are underway; one is Business Gwadar Port Authority Complex and other is Free Zone Business Centre. He said that a total of 2,500 people are working, including 2,000 Pakistanis and 500 Chinese. He told that a big building of Free Zone business centre has been built in a short period of five months, adding that most of Chinese technical people are working there. He said they are also giving training to the local people. He said that they also started first phase of training of local people in China Pakistan Vocational Technical Institute. This institute is part of free zone and requirements of technical people would be fulfilled from it. He said that more than 60 percent people are linked to fishery sector and board making.
Replying to another question, he said that Chinese investment in Gwadar is almost touching $2 billion during the last three years. Gwadar is pillar of Chinese and Pakistani investment in infrastructure, energy, transport, industrial cooperation, social sector and human resource. He said that currently total portfolio of investment regarding various projects at Gwadar Port is Rs 36 billion.
Talking to the journalists, Director General of Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) Dr Sajjad Hussain Baloch said that the federal government has planned to establish storage centre of oil at Gwadar at an estimated cost of Rs 10 billion under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), adding this oil city would consist of 80,000 acres.
He said that this facility would be used for transportation of imported oil through Gwadar port to China as well as from Gulf states. He said that there is a plan to establish a refinery and petrochemical industries in the oil city.
He said that the total area of Gwadar Model City is 290,000 acres of land, which includes 160,000 acres of residential area while the remaining is for industrial purposes. A Chinese company is working on the Model City Plan and it will be ready by August 14, 2018.
He said that there is shortage of four million gallons per day in water supply to the area of Gwadar city. The demand would reach 12 million gallons per day in 2020. For this purpose additional arrangements are being made to get 10 million gallons of water, he added.