Pakistan’s Gwadar International Airport seems to be deserted despite its completion in October 2024. Pakistan’s closest ally and friend, China funded the project and doled out $240 million for the construction of the airport. Now, the airport with 4,00,000 passengers capacity has no planes and passengers, which has turned it into “Ghost Airport’.
According to an AP news report, the people of Gwadar in Balochistan province do not see it as their priority. They view, including journalists, that the airport was for the Chinese so they can easily access Gwadar and Balochistan.
China built the airport as part of its coveted China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which connects China’s western Xinjiang province with the region.
The report cited that the power supply in the region came from Iran, or they used solar panels for it, and there was no clean water.
The locals and Baloch people alleged that the Pakistani government is denying opportunities to them as they have been facing discrimination for the last decade.
The locals say they have to provide their identity as asked by those who are working at the airport. They say they were used to roam in the area as per their wishes.
The rising insurgency in the region is also seen as their dissent.
Last month, A minister of the East Turkistan Government in exile has slammed Pakistan’s New Gwadar International Airport, which was funded by China, raising significant concerns about its true purpose.
In a post on social media platform X, Salih Hudayar, the Foreign and Security Minister argued that the airport serves China’s strategic interests rather than benefiting Pakistan or the local population of Gwadar. He warned that China intends to transform Balochistan into a “strategic colony.”
Hudayar’s comments followed a report by Voice of America (VOA), which highlighted the underwhelming utilization of the airport, completed in October 2024 at a cost of 240 million dollars in Chinese funding. Despite being a key component of the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Gwadar remains largely underdeveloped, with local residents seeing few benefits from the project.
