Balochistan can bring regional prosperity: CM

DAVOS: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal has said the province is abundant with natural resources and now it can bring prosperity to the region also as it offers opportunities to Afghanistan and Pakistan can have access to Europe.

Jam Kamal and Quetta Corps Commander Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa highlighted the future economic prospects of the province at traditional Pakistan Dinner on the sidelines of the Annual World Economic Forum.

The chief minister said CPEC can really bring up new business ventures from growing China. He said other countries are also showing interests in the project. Jam Kamal assured that the foreign investors will be facilitated, and promised them good governance and transparent systems.

“The Balochistan government will be accountable to its people,” he said. Jam Kamal said Reko Diq is open for foreign investment. He said the 700 kilometres coastal line is also open for tourism and trans-shipment facilities.

He said both the federal and provincial governments have huge responsibilities to turn around Balochistan. He said the success of Pakistan’s economy depends very much on Balochistan and it is very important that the government comes up with investment friendly opportunities for people.

Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said Balochistan offers unique economic opportunities. He said there is also unique collaboration between the civil and military leaderships to take Balochistan forward.

“With the improvement in geo-politics situation, the focus is shifting towards geo-economics. Gwadar is going to be connected through Afghanistan and Central Asia to Russia. We see other regional ports as complementary ports to Gwadar,” Asim Saleem Bajwa said.

The event provided an opportunity to tell the richest people of the world about the developments that have taken place in past couple of years and the benefits that the impoverished provinces may reap in coming years.

Lt Gen Bajwa said Balochistan has remained victim of terrorism because of turbulence from across the border. He said Pakistan ultimately realised that it has to manage its own borders and started constructing fence on border with Afghanistan.

He said the border is becoming stable and Pakistan is constructing a five-kilometre-long fence every day to fully fence the border by end of this year. “The incidence of terrorism in Balochistan has drastically reduced. The so-called insurgency has already died down and there are only few incidents that happened last year,” the corps commander added.

He said the much-needed political stability is also coming in Balochistan and there is the best political dispensation in Balochistan today. He said the security situation has improved and the province has got momentum for development.

“Start of CPEC in Balochistan has created huge economic opportunities through connectivity,” he said, adding that scope of CPEC is being widened and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman have already shown interest in the project.

“Saudi Arabia has shown interest to invest $10 billion. The jewel of the crown is Gwadar, which is offering huge opportunity to cut time and cost of logistics for international trade in this region. The potential of Balochistan is in mines and minerals and oil and gas,” said Lt Gen Bajwa.

He said since creation of Pakistan 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf) gas has been explored and the known potential in Balochistan is 28tcf. The Gwadar port and Gwadar free zone offer enormous investment opportunities for setting up light and heavy industries as well as in tourism.