Gwadar Deep Sea Port: Gwadar was once a fishing village on the Arabian Sea coast in Balochistan province and some 72 kilometres from the Iranian border. It is situated about 400km from the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for global oil supplies. More than 13 million bbl/d of oil pass through the Strait. It is strategically located between three increasingly important regions: the oil-rich Middle East, heavily populated South Asia and the economically emerging and resource-laden region of Central Asia. The present town of Gwadar, Pakistan, lies on the Arabian Sea coast about 30 miles (48 km) to the east of Gwadar Bay.
Pakistan identified Gwadar as a port site in 1964. However, it was only in 2001 that significant steps were taken with the help of Chinese assistance in the construction and development of the deep-sea port. The total cost of the project is estimated at US$1.16 billion, of which China has contributed about $198 million for the first phase for construction of three multi-purpose ship berths. China has also invested another $200 million toward building a highway connecting Gwadar port with Karachi.
pakistanpaedia.com/mega/ports.html
Gwadar is also visualized as becoming a regional hub, serving commercial traffic to and from the Mid East, the Persian Gulf, and China’s Xinjiang province, Iran, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Its location at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and at the opposite end of the strategic choke points of Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman enhances its strategic importance. Its development could as well favorably influence the geo-strategic environment of the region and have an overall beneficial impact on Pakistan. Gwadar lying close to the oil rich Gulf-states could be a potential source of off–shore gas and oil reserves.
strategycenter.net/research/ … detail.asp
The port is said to be part of Chinese naval expansion along the Asian and African coasts called the ‘string of pearls’ initiative, according to a US Department of Defense report.
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news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6469725.stm
Use of Gwadar port by China, which is one of the fastest growing economies in the world would accelerate the growth of both the port and the hinterland as well as enhance Gwadar’s overall commercial and strategic value.
The Chinese have all along denied that the Gwadar project has any military dimension. It is, Beijing emphasizes, a civilian port. At the same time, China–with heavy imports of Persian Gulf oil, most of which is routed through this sea-lane–maintains that its interest in having secure and uninterrupted flow of oil is justified. Joint naval exercises, goodwill visits by its naval vessels and increased trade and commercial activity with Pakistan are likely to raise China’s profile in the Arabian Sea.
strategycenter.net/research/ … detail.asp
The distance from Kashgar to Chinese east coast ports is 3,500 km, whereas the distance from Kashgar to Gwadar is only 1,500 km. The cost benefits to China of using Gwadar as the port for western China’s imports and exports are as evident as the long-term economic benefits to Pakistan of Gwadar becoming a port for Chinese goods.Surely, China’s interest in Gwadar is motivated by the latter’s strategic location.
Gwadar is just 72km from the Iranian border and 400km east of the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit of global oil supplies. China’s massive involvement in the Gwadar project - it has provided most of its funding and technical expertise - has provided Beijing with a “listening post” from where it can “monitor US naval activity in the Persian Gulf, Indian activity in the Arabian Sea, and future US-Indian maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean”, according to Zia Haider, an analyst at the Washington-based Stimson Center.
thecurrentaffairs.com/index.php/ … adar-port/