Gwadar is the hub city of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a project which focuses, besides the interests of China, the development of the region where it is practically happening– but sadly, the port city lacks water for its inhabitants to drink which is devastating. On the other hand, the level of rainfall in Balochistan is barely lowering down as of a quarter of the usual rainfall, whereas in some other years the region has witnessed no rainfall at all.
According to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study, due to a shortage of water, students, in particular, cannot focus on their studies which results in poor educational outcomes. Other than the students, 60 to 70 per cent population of Balochistan have been affected with acute water shortage – specially the region of Gwadar is currently suffering from this worse scenario of water crisis.
Ankara dam, which was the first service in Gwadar, was built in 1994 and has dried up four times since then. It was constructed to service a population of 35,000, but lack of maintenance has resulted in the loss of half of its capacity. In the past two years, three Chinese-funded dams have been built, with another two to be built as part of the CPEC project, but these dams are not yet connected to the city.
Although Gwadar owns a sea, but its water cannot be used for plantation because it is very sour. If it is given to the plants, they may not grow. In 2015-16, one of the desalination plants provided the city with only 1.1 million litres out of the intended 7.5 million litres per day.
Meerani dam, despite being far from Gwadar city, provides water to the locals of the city throw trucks. But it cannot be a permanent solution to water crisis in the CPEC city. Government ought to deal with the water issue of Gwadar as soon as possible to provide the local people with required water. Water supplies must be formed in different places of Gwadar so that it may be reachable for the common citizens.
By: Hammal Zahid
The writer is a student at DELTA and he can reached hammalzahid9@gmail.com