Published: 11:43 AM, 29 October 2025
Unfulfilled Promises And Gwadar Port’s Water Crisis
The water crisis in and around Gwadar Port highlights a glaring failure of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) promises and the Pakistani authorities’ handling of the project. Despite being envisioned as a strategic hub catalyzing economic growth, Gwadar continues to grapple with severe shortages of basic necessities such as water, undercutting the promise of prosperity associated with CPEC.
Gwadar, strategically located on Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast, was envisioned as a vital maritime gateway and a linchpin of CPEC, serving as an economic growth engine with abundant local benefits. However, more than a decade after CPEC’s launch, residents are enduring a dire water shortage crisis. Water supply in Gwadar happens once every ten to fifteen days for many residents, with some areas left entirely parched. This gap between vision and reality exposes fundamental flaws in planning, governance, and execution of the port and related infrastructure development projects.
Instead of becoming a model of progress, Gwadar’s water scarcity is largely rooted in chronic administrative neglect and unresolved inter-departmental disputes. Despite Gwadar’s geographical advantage, blessed with nearby dams and seawater, the city has been unable to secure a reliable water supply. Disputes between key agencies such as the Gwadar Development Authority and the Public Health Engineering Department have stalled critical water projects and disrupted supply to the city. The irony of Gwadar facing water shortage while local reservoirs are full and seawater desalination options exist but are not fully operational is stark evidence of governance failure.
The desalination plant, one of the key projects to address Gwadar’s potable water needs under CPEC, was delayed and only recently became partially functional. Originally planned to produce 0.5 million gallons of drinking water daily, increased demand led to an upscaled capacity of over 1.2 million gallons per day being commissioned. Even so, this output remains far short of the estimated demand of over 7 million gallons daily, which is projected to rise sharply by 2025. Additionally, the implementation of distribution pipelines has been slow, and water delivery inefficiencies persist due to lack of coordinated management between departments. This fragmented approach exacerbates the basic crisis of water access for Gwadar residents.
Such infrastructural inadequacies directly undermine Gwadar Port’s operational effectiveness. Water scarcity affects not only living conditions but also port productivity, as essential port functions require continuous water and electricity supplies. Despite the massive investments into port infrastructure and related CPEC projects, Gwadar handles less than 1% of Pakistan’s sea-borne trade — a stark representation of its underutilization and lack of economic activity. The port, branded as a “crown jewel” of CPEC, remains disconnected from the promise of prosperity it was supposed to generate.
This failure reflects broader issues within CPEC’s implementation in Balochistan. The ambitious project’s goals have clashed with on-the-ground realities involving local security concerns, bureaucratic inefficiency, and insufficient financial management. While the port and its surroundings attracted infrastructural visits and official announcements branding it a “strategic priority,” the actual delivery of fundamental services like water and electricity has remained elusive over the past 12 years.
The discontent among Gwadar’s residents has escalated, culminating in protests and strike actions that underscore the severe neglect of their basic needs. These protests highlight the disconnect between state rhetoric and local reality despite Gwadar’s symbolic importance in geopolitical and economic discourse, its people face daily hardships from water scarcity that threaten their health and livelihood.
Moreover, the environmental dimension compounds the crisis. Rapid infrastructural and coastal developments, often carried out without adequate environmental safeguards, threaten marine ecosystems essential to local fisheries, a primary livelihood source for many residents. This ecological strain adds to the economic vulnerability already heightened by the failure to provide basic utilities.
Despite some recent steps, such as the formation of high-level panels and joint consensus plans to coordinate water supply efforts among Gwadar Port Authority, Public Health Engineering, and Gwadar Development Authority, tangible outcomes remain inadequate and slow in materialization. The fragmented institutional responsibilities and overlapping jurisdictions hinder unified efforts crucial for a crisis solution.
The Gwadar water crisis starkly exposes the yawning gap between the grandiose promises of CPEC and the ground reality of infrastructural dysfunction and governance failure. This crisis is emblematic of Pakistan’s broader struggle to convert ambitious mega-projects into tangible benefits for local populations. Gwadar Port, intended as a beacon of trade and development, stands as a cautionary tale of how neglecting basic human needs like water supply can derail economic potential and fuel local unrest. Without urgent corrective measures focused on governance, infrastructure completion, and environmental sustainability, Gwadar’s status as a strategic economic hub will remain a distant goal rather than a realized promise.
>> Source: Asian News Post (ANP)
