0
0
Read Time:3 Minute, 51 Second
The Harbor of this city which is at the end of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is facing severe water shortages. This could dampen Gwadar’s hopes of becoming a center for international trade. Pakistan’s Gwadar port has suffered a severe shortage of drinking water. after three years of drought in the arid province of Baluchistan. Officials hope the port city can become an international trading hub. at the end of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). an ambitious $46 billion project linking a deep-water port in the Arabian Sea. with the western Chinese city of Kashgar.
Access to safe drinking water
But Gwadar faces a growing water crisis. leaving 100,000 people without access to safe drinking Gwadar water.
Residents are forced to buy expensive water ($115-140 per tanker). or wait days for a truckload of government-subsidized water 80km away. Other locals have turned to boiling seawater to ignite. desire to drink This is the second time that Gwadar. and the surrounding areas of Baluchistan province have suffered. severe water shortages in six years.
The investment puts pressure on water resources.
Recent investment inflows have put more pressure on Gwadar water resources. The population of the city has increased due to the CPEC project. and if the government does not take immediate action. The crisis will get worse. A Chinese state-owned company took control of a strategically important port. in the Pakistani city of Gwadar last November. By signing a land agreement of over 2,000 acres, the port was designated a free trade zone. Gwadar port officials said, Foreign investors. and domestic companies must bring their own kits of clean drinking water. “We rely on bottled water. But the poor here are in trouble because of the water crisis.
Humanitarian crises for the poor
Nasima Ahsan Shah, a female senator from Gwadar, told the third pole. net that women, children, and the poor are greatly affected by water shortages. Women also travel miles to wash their clothes. “Madam, we have no more hope from you. Please give us water,” Shah said, referring to a woman in Gwadar Water during a recent visit to his constituency. He said that despite the poverty. and other social problems in the city, the water crisis made people forget everything. “Water is the basic need of every human being. And we ask the government to take immediate action to provide water,” said Shah. Villagers in the said port city gave an interview to the third pole. net by phone that the Akar Kaur Dam is the only source of water for Gwadar and the surrounding area. almost dehydrated due to prolonged drought Senators explained.
Water shortages
The dams designed and built in the early 1990s were unable to meet the city’s water needs. Due to the increasing population. and the slow accumulation of sediment in the reservoir. He asked the authorities to speed up the construction of two more dams under construction. But no one knows how its population is suffering due to water shortages,” Ms. Shah said.
He criticized the massive electric train project built in Lahore under CPEC. with an investment of over one billion dollars. “It would be more appropriate. if half of these funds are transferred to Gwadar water supply projects in Gwadar he said. “If you don’t take action There will be a humanitarian crisis in this city in the future,” he warned of slow government response Planning, Development, and Reform Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who spearheads the CPEC initiative. said the ministry had understood. the severity of the crisis and is taking immediate action to resolve it.
Gwadar Development Authority
“Gwadar is very important to us. And we will guarantee all facilities. Not just for investors but also to the local people. who are the main stakeholders in the development process,” he said Gwadar Water Development Authority (GDA) chief engineer Rafiq Baloch said. the government was procuring water tankers for potable. and distilled water for other purposes. He said the government is laying a 68 km pipeline from the dam to the city to distribute. the water and that Ahsan Iqbal will oversee these water-related projects.
Long-running insurgency
Baluchistan is also the site of a long-running insurgency. And armed groups in the region have targeted drinking water projects. which adds to the current crisis $13 million construction of Sawar. and Shadi Kaur dams. The crime was started by the local government in 2007. suspended in 2014 after armed men abducted contractors and workers.
Both dams resumed operations last month. And we will complete the project by 2018, EA said.
Also read: Gwadar today
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
Average Rating