KARACHI: Residents and local traders in Gwadar expressed mixed emotions on Friday as Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone for the $230 million New Gwadar International Airport in the city which is fast becoming the economic hub of the country.
“We are unaware of what benefits we will be getting from the new international airport. However, the thing we know for sure is that it has increased VIP movement and closed our business for three days,” Ghulam Hussain Dashti, President of ‘Anjuman Tajran Gwadar’, a body representing small traders in Gwadar, said.
The city which lies in the southwestern Balochistan province is the crown jewel of China’s $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in terms of energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan.
The plan for Gwadar includes turning it into a trans-shipment hub and a mega port to be built alongside special economic zones from which export-focused industries will ship goods around the world. Additionally, roads, rail link and energy pipelines will connect the deepwater Gwadar port to China’s western regions.
Once completed in three years, the Gwadar airport, for which an agreement was signed in May 2017, will be the second-largest such facility in Pakistan.
However, several from the nearly 138,438 local residents said they were waiting to reap benefits from previous projects.
“We want development and progress in Gwadar. We want our city to prosper. But we the locals should be partners in this prosperity,” Dashti told Arab News.
Meanwhile, Sardar Shaukat Popalzai, President of the Balochistan Economic Forum told Arab News that the ground-breaking ceremony for the airport will not have “any immediate impact.”
“As the operations of the commercial port and that of the free-zone continues to take time, the ground-breaking ceremony, at the moment, is not going to have any immediate impact. However, once the city becomes an active port city, things will change,” Popalzai said.
He added that, unfortunately, such events create more mental agony for the area’s population. “With no water and electricity and even without basic necessities how can people consider these moments as positive development?” he asked, before quickly adding a caveat – if CPEC’s commitment of socio-economic development is realized, the people of Gwadar would enjoy its fruits and help change the economic scenario of the world.
“The federal and provincial governments should step up the development of hinterland and more importantly the required infrastructure which is badly lacking at this time,” Popalzai said.
Meanwhile, President of the Gwadar Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mir Naveed Baloch, is optimistic that the development would result in an improved standard of living for the local population.
“The development everywhere in the world has impacted the lives of local population and Gwadar becoming a major economic and trade hub will certainly improve the standard of life of people here,” Baloch told Arab News.
He added that the new Gwadar airport is being built on 4,400 acres of land and would be a transit international airport just like the one in Dubai, UAE.
“Gwadar has an excellent seashore and the entire coastal belt has God gifted treasures which offer a mesmeric view for the tourists,” he said.
“The development and connectivity through roads and air will bring happiness in the life of people of Gwadar in particular and the rest of Balochistan in general,” he said.
Anwar Shah, a local youth, concurred. He said that if those involved in the planning of CPEC and Gwadar airport took the locals’ concerns into consideration, the entire initiative could prove to be a milestone.
“The locals should be the immediate beneficiary,” he said.
Curiosity and hope in Gwadar as PM Imran Khan launches new airport
Curiosity and hope in Gwadar as PM Imran Khan launches new airport
- With international access, tourists will be able to explore mesmerizing beauty of Balochistan, officials say
- Premier lays the foundation stone for the $230mn facility
Pakistan’s Engro executes $475 million Islamic financing deal to expand telecom infrastructure
- Islamic banking accounts for over a fifth of Pakistan’s banking assets amid a shift toward Shariah-compliant finance
- The deal brings more than 10,000 telecom towers under Engro’s control, enabling their shared use by multiple operators
KARACHI: Pakistan’s largest conglomerate Engro Corp. has completed a Rs133 billion ($475 million) Islamic financing deal to acquire telecom tower company Deodar, expanding its telecom infrastructure business as the country seeks to strengthen digital connectivity, the company said on Friday.
The transaction, structured entirely through Shariah-compliant financing, brings more than 10,000 telecom towers under Engro’s control and marks one of the largest Islamic financing deals in Pakistan’s infrastructure sector.
Engro, which has major interests in energy, fertilizers, food and petrochemicals, said the acquisition would allow it to scale shared telecom infrastructure, under which a single tower can host multiple mobile network operators, lowering costs and reducing duplication as Pakistan prepares for next-generation digital services.
“My congratulations to the Dawood family and Engro, the Islamic bankers and conventional banks through their Islamic windows on being able to put together a deal of this size,” State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmed said at a ceremony marking the transaction, referring to the company and its chairman. “This is a great achievement which has been supported by the banks.”
The deal was supported by a group of local banks, including United Bank Limited and Meezan Bank, Engro said, highlighting the increasing role of Islamic financing in funding long-term investment in Pakistan.
Islamic banking, which operates without interest and is based on profit-and-loss sharing structures, accounts for more than a fifth of Pakistan’s banking assets, and authorities have said they aim to transition the financial system toward Shariah compliance over the coming years.
The acquisition of Deodar, which was originally carved out of mobile operator Jazz, also aligns with government efforts to digitize the economy by expanding broadband access and supporting digital payments, e-commerce and online public services, though progress has remained uneven due to infrastructure and regulatory challenges.
