Pakistan has a coastline of 1001 km distributed between the two provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan. Pakistan may be a coastal nation, but it is not necessarily a maritime nation. The maritime blindness has plagued its development of the Blue Economy, and the same can be seen with the lack of progress in the ship recycling industry. An industry that at one time had more than 30000 labourers breaking down huge ships and providing crucial raw material for the steel industry.

Pakistan may be a coastal nation, but it is not necessarily a maritime nation.

But the lack of political will and coordination amongst the regulatory bodies has seen the industry dwindle to almost a complete halt. This lack of action has permeated into other domains of the blue economy and has resulted in Pakistan’s maritime sector being increasingly limited to Karachi only. Pakistan’s two operational ports are located at Karachi, with Karachi Port and Port Qasim taking the brunt of the load of Pakistan’s trade. For a country that suffered from missile strikes on its Karachi Port in its 1971 war against India, it is alarming that diversification of maritime infrastructure from a geographic perspective has not materialized.

Many would argue that Pakistan has Gwadar Port at its disposal, but the figures of arrivals and departures of ships from Gwadar depict a dismal performance. More so, Gwadar Port is still not linked to the major cities of Baluchistan, KPK, and Punjab and still reliant on the coastal highway going to Karachi, which makes it even more preposterous for a ship owner to send a ship to Gwadar rather than to the two developed and well connected ports of Karachi.

Pakistan’s oil imports are primarily being landed at Karachi in its two ports. In addition, a privately owned single-point mooring (SPM) is also operational close to Karachi, which is used for oil imports. Similarly, two LNG terminals are also operating at Port Qasim. This requires a review of the development of our maritime infrastructure, primarily related to oil and gas. The use of long-range vectors in the recent skirmish between India and Pakistan may not have been used on maritime infrastructure in India and Pakistan, but Iran and Israel have not been so lucky.

Both have targeted maritime infrastructure through long-range weapons, primarily ballistic missiles. This highlights the importance of not being dependent on a single point of failure, especially for Pakistan, as India has an elaborate structure of major and minor ports. This requires Pakistan to develop a holistic plan to diversify its MIS. Pakistan must consider building multiple single-point moorings for the import of oil connected through an underwater pipeline terminating at Karachi, Gwadar, and Ormara. It would also require developing strategic oil depots all along the coast at Gwadar, Pasni, and Ormara in addition to Karachi or other technically suitable locations.

Over 90% of fish pass through Karachi, while Baluchistan’s harbours remain underutilized.

This underwater oil pipeline will also allow for the transit of oil from east to west or vice versa in case of war without interruption. Similarly, developing an LNG terminal or revitalizing the Gwadar-Nawabshah LNG pipeline project would further diversify the gas import infrastructure. However, the success of such projects would be on the efficient utilization of imported gas in the much-touted economic zones to be built under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Building strategic storage for enhancing economic security, as well as making good economic sense, is equally important.

At present, nine underwater Fiber optic cables used for communication networks land at Karachi.  A few are planned to land at Gwadar, but they have yet to materialize. This increases the dependency on Karachi again, and what is essentially required is a more balanced approach towards the maritime communication infrastructure. Despite low population density in Baluchistan, diversifying the landing points would lead to redundancy, increased reliability, and reduced congestion.

The development of Gwadar Port is essential and holds the key to developing Pakistan’s Blue Economy. The port project needs to be given maximum emphasis, along with the local populace of not just Gwadar city but also Gwadar district. It is important to resolve the problems of the Gwadar district, especially education, health, water, and sewerage, while ensuring their fishing rights are not usurped. This needs to be done with goodwill and ensuring the benefits reach the common people and not just the political leadership or people with influence and power.

Without undertaking the development of Gwadar, the whole notion of the development of the blue economy is a dud, and as is the CPEC itself. It is also essential to convince the people of Gwadar to embrace people from other provinces, as skilled manpower is essentially required for the development of a port. The classical example is that of Karachi, which is a multi-lingual, multi ethnic city that has embraced every person who has lived in it and hence has developed into the financial hub of Pakistan.

Nine submarine cables land at Karachi; few are planned for Gwadar but remain unrealized.

Pakistan’s fisheries sector is also reliant on Karachi, with more than 90% of all landed fish passing through fish harbours located in Karachi. Despite a massive Exclusive Economic Zone of 240000 square kilometers, almost equal to one-third of the land mass of Pakistan, the fish exports are paltry, with a low average per unit price as compared to Chinese or even Indian exports. Most of the fish exports are used for animal feed due to poor conditions on board boats and fish harbours. This needs to change, and diversification is essentially required not just in the development and maintenance of fish harbours but also in providing suitable access to fishermen to export from the fish harbours in Baluchistan.

Pakistan’s Blue Economy rests on the development of its MIS in a geographically diversified manner with a holistic approach over a long period. The only concerns other than the technicalities are the welfare of the local populace, protection of the environment, and enforcement of provincial and national regulations.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.