While the construction work of port
building is on, a whole set of supporting infrastructure facilities
is being laid down. The government has established a Coastal
Development Authority headed by Balochistan Governor Justice Amirul
Mulk Mengal.
Makran Coastal Highway
The 653 km Makran
Coastal Highway linking Gwadar with Karachi on a 675-mile stretch is
going to be lifeline of the Gwadar project. It will be completed in
four phases. Completion
of this highway will open up the area exposing all business
opportunities in Gwadar and on Makran coast to the international
investors. It is certainly going to attract new townships and
settlements of international investors, tourists,workforce coming
from distant lands. The Makran coastal highway will also link
Karachi with Iran and, thus, open a new and shorter trade route
between the two countries. Gaining access to the more lucrative but
landlocked central Asian markets via Iran and Afghanistan is also on
the cards.
Linking CARs
The Asian
Development Bank has also announced financing for road projects,
linking Pakistan’s Balochistan and Frontier provinces with
Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics (CARs), having a total cost
of $500 million.
Mirani Dam and
canals
Mirani dam
construction is another major endeavour being made to develop water
resources in the
province. The WAPDA is working on the Mirani Dam Project. Its
estimated cost is Rs 7.5 billion. More than Rs15 billion would be
spent on this project for which the federal government had provided
Rs2 billion in the fiscal year 2002-03. It is expected to irrigate
32,000 acres highly fertileand of Dasht Plains in the downstream
while more than 20,000 acres in the upstream through recharge of
hundreds of dead and old Kans (deep wells linked up from the bottom
ensuring a greater flow of water for domestic use and farming).
Education Gwadar
The educational
institutions in Gwadar district include two intermediate colleges,
10 high schools, 13 middle schools, 174 primary schools, and one
technical training centre. Apart from these public sector
educational institutions, one middle and 3 primary schools exist in
the private sector. Some of the government schools in the district
are not functional. These schools exist on paper only. Their staff
worsens is getting salary but no teaching activity is being carried
out. Reliable official data about these non-functional schools is
not available.
The government
school system in Gwadar follows the national pattern. It is divided
into three stages: primary, middle, and high. The entry point to the
primary stage is kachi which is actually first part of class one,
while the second part is pakki. In this way the student spends two
years to pass class one. After class one four more years are
required to pass primary stage (class 5). Middle stage (class 6 to
8) is of 3 years’ duration and high section (class 9 and 10) is of
two years. In order to get a secondary school certificate a total of
11 years’ schooling is required. There are 146 boys and 28 girls
primary schools in the district. About two third (66.6%) of these
schools are single teacher sc
hools.
Fourteen of these schools have been mosque schools which have now
been awarded the status of primary schools.
The Government of
Pakistan has recently established a Technical Training Centre at
Gwadar with World Bank assistance. The classes have not started yet
but are expected to start functioning this year. This centre will
provide training in various trades including electrician, motor
winding, television and radio mechanic, wood work and boat-making,
welding and sheet metal, refrigeration and air conditioning, and
plumbing and fitting. There is training capacity of 8 students in
each trade while the duration of courses ranges from 6 months to one
year. The teaching staff of this centre consists one Chief
Instructor, 6 Senior Instructors, and 11 Junior Instructors.
Computer programming and net-making are the most demanded and needed
trades for future plans.
Gwadar Climate
The climate of
Gwadar, elevated at 0-300 meters above sea level, is dry arid hot.
It is placed in "warm summer and mild winter" temperature region.
The oceanic influence keeps the temperature lower than that in the
interior in summer and higher in winter. The mean temperature in the
hottest month (June) remains between 31° C and 32° . The mean
temperature in the coolest month (January) varies from 18° C to 19°
C. The uniformity of temperature is a unique characteristic of the
coastal region in Balochistan. Occasionally, winds moving down the
Balochistan plateau bring brief cold spells, otherwise the winter is
pleasant. In Gwadar, winter is shorter than summer. It stays only
from December through February (3 months) while summer starts in
March and prolongs up to November (9 months). Mean monthly
temperature in summer remains between 21° C and 32° C. In the
coldest month, January, the mean monthly temperature remains above
10° C. Freezing temperature has been recorded at Pasni but nowhere
else in the district.
The Pakistan
Meteorological Department has two stations in Gwadar district but
meteorological data is not being compiled properly. However the
available rainfall data for the last three years confirm the "dry
arid" climatic category of the area. There is no regular pattern of
rainfall in the district. In 1993, total annual rainfall at Jiwani
was 27.0 mm while in 1994 it was 110.6 mm. In 1995, rainfall in just
one month exceeded the total annual precipitation in 1994 as it was
113.0 mm in December 1995. The extent of precipitation affects the
supply of drinking water in Gwadar district as most of it is
provided from reservoirs which are rain-dependent. At Pasni and
Jiwani stations of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, mid
summer mean maximum temperature (in June) varied slightly in the
years 1993 to 1995 (from 34.5° C to 35.5° C) while mid summer mean
minimum temperature ranged from 25.0° C to 27.4° C. The mid winter
mean maximum temperature (in January) in these three years was
between 24.6° C and 26.0° C and mean minimum temperature in mid
winter remained between 11.3° C and 15.0° C.
and
it is not suitable for drinking. In the late 70’s WAPDA
Hydro-geology Department has drilled test boreholes in the whole
province, including Gwadar District. Five test wells were drilled
in Gwadar and Pasni unto mid 1993 by the Public Health Engineering
Department to examine the quality of water.