Gwadar Port’s first phase opened on 20 March 2007

From the archives: This piece has been compiled from available official and press sources. We do not have a scanned copy of the 21 March 2007 issue of Roznama Atemad.

Tuesday, 20 March 2007. Five years after the foundation stone was laid on the site (see the page for 22 March 2002 in this series), concrete berths and cranes now stand there. According to Dawn’s correspondent Saleem Shahid, the country’s third port was formally inaugurated. We have described the background to Gwadar’s return to Pakistan in 1958 on the page for 8 September 1958.

What was built at the port

Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana of Dawn wrote in November 2006 that the first phase was built by a Chinese state-owned company. It included three multipurpose berths with a total length of 602 metres, a 100-metre service berth and an approach channel 4.35 kilometres long, which was being deepened to 16 metres. Roads, warehouses, navigation aids and coastal buildings were also built. In the same report, Gwadar Port Implementation Authority Chairman Captain Anwar Shah said the first phase was complete and work would begin once an operator was chosen. The Gwadar Port Authority’s website still gives the length of the port’s main quay as 602 metres and the number of berths as three, able to take ships of up to 50,000 tonnes.

What was the cost? The sources differ. According to Dawn’s report on the opening, the initial development cost was $248 million, 80 per cent of which was provided by China. According to Rana, the cost rose to $298 million, of which China provided $200 million in soft loans and grants, and Pakistan paid the rest.

The Singapore operator

An international bidding process was held to run the port. According to Dawn (2008), bids were submitted on 4 December 2006, the winning bidder was announced on 10 December, and the appointment of Singapore’s PSA was approved on 23 January 2007.

According to Dawn, a 40-year agreement was signed in Gwadar on 6 February 2007 between the Gwadar Port Authority and a subsidiary of the Port of Singapore Authority. Under it, terminal and cargo handling, marine services and free zone development went to the operator. The Gwadar Port Authority was to receive a fixed share of revenue: about 9 per cent from cargo and marine services and 15 per cent from free zone business. According to the report, the company was to invest $550 million over the next five years.

What happened next

• 15 March 2008: According to Dawn (2008), cargo handling began at the port.
• 18 February 2013: According to Dawn, the contract was transferred from PSA to the Chinese state-owned China Overseas Ports Holding Company; the port remained the property of Pakistan. The Gwadar Port Authority also confirms the transfer of concession rights in 2013.

Do you have a copy of Roznama Atemad from March 2007, or a photograph or memory of the opening of Gwadar Port? Please send it to us. We will add it to this page with your name.