THE "MAKRAN COASTAL HIGHWAY" PROJECT (National Highway N10)

The Makran Coastal Highway project will help in establishing better commerce and trade relations with the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, particularly, the central Asian republics

Pakistan has a coastal belt of about 800-km from Karachi to the international border with Iran. The portion from Hub near Karachi up to Jiwani is called Makran Coast. There are small ports of Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar and Jiwani along the coast.

Before last year, only a dirt track existed along the coast, "The development of Gwadar Port and infrastructure along the Makran Coast is key to boost the national economy," said Brig Shabbir Ahmed, Commander, Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), which is constructing the two sections of the highway.

The journey time has now been reduced to six or seven hours with the construction of the new Makran Coastal Highway (National Highway N10). The highway was built as part of an overall plan to improve transport facilities in southern Balochistan; other parts of the plan include the new seaport and international airport at Gwadar and the construction of a road linking Gwadar to Khuzdar.

The spokesman in a press statement issued here on Saturday said that the present government has awarded all construction contracts for Gawadar Deep Sea Port and Makran Coastal Highway which had seen shelved by both the pervious regimes. It was only the commitment and dedicated pursuits of the President Gen Pervez Musharraf that two mega projects have been materialized, he added.

The spokesman clarified that the idea of Gawadar Deep Sea Port was conceived during the first term of Nawaz Sharif in 1993 but remained shelved even during his second term. Even the Benazir government did not touch this project due to non-availability of financial resources, he said.

The present government took up the issue as one of its priority areas and the Ministry of Communication signed an agreement with Chinese government in August 2001, under which Chinese government will provide US $198 million for development of Gawadar Deep Sea Port phase-1 while Pakistan will contribute $50 million.

GWADAR: Minister for Communications and Railways Lt Gen (r) Javed Ashraf Qazi on Saturday said Makran Costal Highway will make Pakistan a hub of regional trade activities and promote trade links with the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) states.

He said, ports of Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar and Jewani are located along the costal belt and that construction of costal highway will pave the way for trade activity at three ports.

The journey time has now been reduced to six or seven hours with the construction of the new Makran Coastal Highway (National Highway N10). The highway was built as part of an overall plan to improve transport facilities in southern Balochistan; other parts of the plan include the new seaport and international airport at Gwadar and the construction of a road linking Gwadar to Khuzdar.