Located at the entrance of the Persian Gulf and
about 460 kms from Karachi, Gwadar has had immense
Geostrategic significance on many accounts. The
continued unstable regional environment in the
Persian Gulf in particular as a result of the
Iran/Iraq war, the Gulf war and the emergence of the
new Central Asian States has added to this
importance. Considering the Geo-economic imperative
of the regional changes, the ADB’s Ports Master Plan
studies considered an alternate to the Persian Gulf
Ports to capture the transit trade of the Central
Asian Republic (CAR) as well as the trans-shipment
trade of the region. Both Karachi and PQA were
considered for such development but were found
unattractive to major shipping lines due to the
remoteness from the main shipping routes
The Project started on 22 March 2002, is on fast
track and will In complete in schedule time i.e May
2006. In fact it would surprise many that with
initiative and calculated risk, we have received
merchant ships since Jan 2003 and have been able to
off load hundreds of tones of cargo imported for the
Project, thus saving precious time and money which
otherwise is required for transportation of the same
cargo by road from Karachi/ PQA to Gwadar.
