Abstract:
This study examines the economic potentials of Gwadar port and how the
materialization of this project would play pivotal role in triggering the
economy of Pakistan by channeling trade of various countries especially
China, and emphasize that through Gwadar port Pakistan can offer itself as
a gate way and hub of trade for the region as it is located at the edge of
Persian Gulf, Middle East and is very close to the main sea routes.
Theoretical tools are applied in the thesis to scrutinize the prospects of
Gwadar as a hub port, arguing its geopolitical environment, its technical
aspects and how it would channel Chinese trade yielding benefits to the
economy of Pakistan. China is the main supporter of this mega project,
increasing energy demand in china, its oil policies, and strategies for the
development of its western part and its growing economy is discussed in
order to find out the importance of Gwadar port for china and the expected
Chinese trade flow through this port. The port is compared for
transshipment, transit trade, infrastructure, facilities provided etc with the
other ports of the region. Each of the port is discussed individually first
and then the comparison of these ports is presented. The interests in the
region surrounding Gwadar port by various regional players along with the
super powers are discussed to find out the geo-strategic imperatives
surrounding and affecting Gwadar port. The focus is on the identification
of these interests in terms of security or economic compulsions. This
interrelation is then used to suggest policy guidelines for Islamabad. To
test the hypothesis both primary and secondary data is used. Each chapter
is comprised of two parts. The first part is based on secondary data while
the second part is based on the main findings from primary data. Primary
data is collected from civil servants and businesspeople to reach to the
depth of the problem and suggest the solutions for it .A self administered
questionnaire is used to collect primary data. The cross tab, chi square and
tabulation techniques under the SPSS programme are used for the analysis
of primary data.
The study finds that Gwadar Port can generate necessary resources for
developing required infrastructure which is pre requisite for fully
functional and successful port and which would in turn be a catalyst for
the economic revival of Pakistan provided a stable, congenial and secured
environment is in place, and that is only possible through regional co-
operation and amicable settlements of all domestic and international
political and diplomatic issues