KARACHI: The upcoming oil city project in Gwadar on the southwestern coast of Balochistan is going to host a multibillion-dollar Saudi Aramco refinery, Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) director-general Shahzeb Khan Kakar said on Monday.

“The land allocation process for the oil refinery is underway with the provincial government’s revenue department in Quetta,” Kakar told Arab News at an event by the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) in Karachi.

He expressed hope the process of land allocation for the $10-billion Saudi oil refinery project and a $1-billion petrochemical complex would be completed within a couple of months. 

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed seven investment deals worth $21 billion during last year’s visit of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. The deals included the Aramco refinery.

The refinery has a proposed refining capacity of between 250,000 bpd to 300,000 bpd.

Kakar said he envisions Gwadar as a smart seaport, like Dubai or Singapore. Most of the major issues the city had faced, like water supply, electricity, and security have been resolved, he said.

“All hurdles in the way of Gwadar’s development have been removed and the city will be a future Singapore … By 2050, Gwadar’s economic turnover will reach $30 billion and per capita income is expected to be $15,000,” Kakar told participants of the ABAD event.

ABAD chairman Mohsin Sheikhani called for consistent and long-term policies to ensure smooth and sustainable investment inflows into the city’s construction sector.

“Long-term and stable policy and facilities to investors are necessary for development. The development of Gwadar is in the larger interest of the area, province, and Pakistan,” he said. 

Gwadar is at the heart of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, under which China is investing $60 billion in Pakistan’s energy sector and infrastructure.