Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was due to perform the
inauguration of New Gwadar International Airport (NGIA), close to a port at the
center of the US$50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The
planned opening on August 14 — Pakistan’s Independence Day — was suddenly
halted over what local officials said were security concerns after mass
protests brought southwestern Gwadar to a near standstill this month.
No new opening date has been announced for the US$246
million China funded project, which got off the ground following a grant deal
with Beijing in 2015.
“All
the required work and prerequisite arrangements on the New Gwadar airport have
been completed and it’s ready for flight operations,” a government official
familiar with the situation told Nikkei on condition of anonymity.
The delayed opening — after an initial postponement last
year — comes amid concerns that lower-than-expected demand for flights into the
region, beset by deadly militant attacks and a separatist insurgency,
would quickly turn it into a white elephant.
The
single-runway airport, about 45 kilometers from Chinese-controlled Gwadar port,
is spread over 4,300 acres (1,740 hectares) and can handle large-body planes
like the Airbus A380. That will make it the country’s largest airport by size,
ahead of Islamabad’s gateway.
Gwadar’s faltering efforts to kick off as a major hub have
led to just three weekly scheduled flights to a smaller airport in the area from
Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi — and some of those trips are
routinely canceled.
Even
with Chinese airlines expected to start running direct flights once the new
airport opens, analysts warn there’s little chance of a surge in demand.
“The inauguration of NGIA is symbolic in nature because it
is not commercially viable for any airline in the short term,” Afsar Malik, an
expert in airline economics, told Nikkei Asia.
Successive Pakistani governments have claimed that the
multibillion-dollar investment framework with China would help turn Gwadar into
the next Singapore.
The
country’s prime minister ordered that half of all sea cargo
for government agencies, originally destined for southern Karachi, instead
be unloaded at Gwadar’s port — highlighting its underuse.
Some fear the area’s newest transport hub will become the
next Mattala Rajapaksa International, a large Sri Lankan airport built with a
Chinese loan that’s been dubbed the “world’s emptiest international airport”
due to a lack of flights.
“Vanity
projects are not new for the Chinese, they have built similar projects back
home which have limited use,” said Mohammad Shoaib, an assistant professor at
Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad. “The Chinese are biding their time and the
NGIA can be of use once Gwadar kicks off. … In the meantime, NGIA and old
Gwadar airport can be used by other support missions from China.”
This month, Gwadar saw huge protests staged by groups
pushing for civil, political and economic rights for locals in resource-rich Baluchistan
province, home to the China-funded port.
Beijing has grown increasingly wary about future investment
after its nationals working in Pakistan were targeted in a series of deadly
attacks. The country is grappling with a rise in militant activity ranging from
Islamists aiming to topple the government to separatists seeking to carve out a
homeland in Baluchistan.
Islamabad, already struggling with a shattered economy, has
pledged to boost security for workers and, in June, said it would launch fresh
counterterror operations nationwide.
Despite hopes the new airport will draw more Chinese money,
some are not convinced it would mean much for a local population of mostly poor
fishermen.
“Air travel is quite expensive for the majority of people in
Gwadar,” said Mariyam Suleman, a local now based in Canada. “The airport is
more to accommodate the government officials, diplomats and international
delegations rather than the local population.”
