Inaugurating Chabahar Port early this week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he looked forward to “more engagement and unity” in the region, explaining, “We should go after positive competition. We welcome other ports in the region, we welcome Gwadar’s development.”
Achieved 15 years after the initial agreement in 2003, the Indo-Iranian project of Chabahar is often seen as a rival or competitor for Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, which is the main seaport of the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the most important land route of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Making efforts to dispel any illusions of an imminent rivalry between and Gwadar, Iran has tried to indicate that the two new ports will be complementary to each other, and the presence of Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Pakistan’s minister for maritime affairs, as well as the chairman of Gwadar Port at the inauguration ceremony on Sunday conveyed as much.
Apparently, Iran has plans to export electricity to Gwadar and even has a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan for the further convergence of the two “sister” ports. As far as India is concerned, it is a dream come true, as it visualizes Chabahar as the gateway to a transit and transport corridor connecting India, Iran and Afghanistan.
Additionally, India intends to build a US$1.6 billion rail line to Zahedan in Iran, which can provide access to Central Asia. Having no common borders with Afghanistan, India could not get a trade route to it through Pakistan in the past because of friction between the two neighbors, so it has great expectations from the launching of Chabahar.
Countering Gwadar Port is India’s main goal. It lies less than 100 nautical miles from Chabahar, and India has plans to invest $500 million in the project and secure two berths there as well as develop economic zones later on. Increasing port capacity to 8 million metric tons of cargo from just 2.5 million tons a year, the new harbor extension is all set to facilitate the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) to Russia as well.
Even though Iran currently faces stringent restrictions on any projects linked to its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Chabahar remains an exception, even though sanctions were a hurdle in the past. Recently, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been on the record saying that Washington would not block “legitimate” business activities with Iran by India as there was “no contradiction” between US sanctions on Iran and the Chabahar project.
Having dwelt on the main benefits from Chabahar, let’s take a short overview of Gwadar Port in Pakistan. To begin with, the port happens to be situated on a main trade route, and ships have direct access to it without having to venture into the Strait of Hormuz. Close proximity of the two ports also means that all of Chabahar’s traffic has to pass by Gwadar first.
Not only that, Gwadar’s natural layout and depth enable the largest ships to dock there, whereas both Chabahar and Dubai lack these advantages. Whereas the maximum planned capacity of Chabahar is 10 million to 12 million tons per annum, that of Gwadar will be 300 million to 400 million tons once it reaches complete capacity and it is also projected as a city of 2 million residents once it is ready. If things go according to plan and the port operates full capacity, Gwadar could outstrip all of India’s 212 ports that collectively handle 500 million tons a year.
Geopolitically, if we consider the possibility of instability in Baluchistan, one cannot ignore the fact that Chabahar is located in one of Iran’s most volatile regions, which was rocked by the Jundullah insurgency in recent years. One cannot forget the Shia-Sunni dimension either, as countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would prefer Gwadar over Chabahar considering the ongoing Yemen scenario and other matters.
As for Afghanistan using Chabahar, even that seems unlikely in the near future, as that country remains unstable and US forces are still required to maintain peace there.
Realistically, the fact remains that China’s trade is on such a scale that even if only China uses Gwadar Port in the beginning, it would equal all the trade with other countries combined.
Another future aspect is the $100 billion worth of energy deals Iran could have with China as well as the Iran-Pakistan gas-pipeline proposal, so naturally Iran sees Chabahar as complementing Gwadar, not competing with it.
Finally, any rivalry on the part of Iran’s Chabahar Port is still mainly speculative and all these plans are mainly on paper. The other side of the picture remains that Iran has also been expressing the wish to join the CPEC, thus Chabahar could even become part of that corridor further down the road.
Zhang Mike
Ignoramus, Pakistanis are not educated people. They are DUMB! They spend only $600m on education, while spending $6Billion on defence. Former Prez R Nixon described Pakistanis as extremely stupid BUT loyal! Loyal to anyone who gives then money. Like a crack whore waiting on sufferance, Pakistanis bend over and grease up for their next tranche of money from other countries. Well, there is no such thing as a free lunch anymore and the Pakis are reeling from their litany of stupid actions in the past and facing economic difficulties and a mountain of debt!
Zhang Mike
Ignoramus, Pakistanis are not educated people. They are DUMB! They spend only $600m on education, while spending $6Billion on defence. Former Prez R Nixon described Pakistanis as extremely stupid BUT loyal! Loyal to anyone who gives then money. Like a crack whore waiting on sufferance, Pakistanis bend over and grease up for their next tranche of money from other countries. Well, there is no such thing as a free lunch anymore and the Pakis are reeling from their litany of stupid actions in the past and facing economic difficulties and a mountain of debt!
Two takeaways from the article:
1. The scale and scope between these two ports is no comparison, hence no competition to speak of.
2. Even India intends Chabahar to be some kind of competition to Gawdar, it may not suits Iran, who may see it more as complementary than competition to Gawdar.
3. Those Indians who talk up "debt trap" can shove it. It is not "debt trap" when India invest in Chabahar Port? Laughable they come up with this diatrite when it cannot match China’s wallet.
Two takeaways from the article:
1. The scale and scope between these two ports is no comparison, hence no competition to speak of.
2. Even India intends Chabahar to be some kind of competition to Gawdar, it may not suits Iran, who may see it more as complementary than competition to Gawdar.
3. Those Indians who talk up "debt trap" can shove it. It is not "debt trap" when India invest in Chabahar Port? Laughable they come up with this diatrite when it cannot match China’s wallet.
Strange article. In order to go to Chabahar, first ships have to go to Gwadar. I just checked the map. That is foolish. Second, Chabahar is located at volatile area. Vow. What about Baluchistan? Third, once it reaches to 000 million tonnes (may be in the next 500 years), it will be greater than Indias total tonnage at the ports. The writer forgets that India is growing by leaps and bounds. By that time, the total capacity of India will be in billions of tonnes. India obsessions cannot go easily. She is day dreaming that Indias main goal is to counter Gwadar. Vow. India needs access to central asia. Why are we comparing two. What are we comparing. Who is denying that China and India will be next superpowers. Who is denying that China is 5 times bigger than India economically now. Who is denying that China and India may potentially be the greatest trading partners. What are we comparing. Why are we comparing.
The last trip of IK to China has yielded the following: China refuse to amend CPEC even by a single word. China refuses to give any repreive on the past loans. Finally, IK got back empty handed. Pakistan has only 500 million dollars in foreign reserves, while India got 500 billion dollars. I understand the frustration of the writer.
Last, but not least. Modi is the only foreign delegate who was recieved by the current Chinse President twice outside Bejing. Twice. No pakistani got that kind of reception.
Strange article. In order to go to Chabahar, first ships have to go to Gwadar. I just checked the map. That is foolish. Second, Chabahar is located at volatile area. Vow. What about Baluchistan? Third, once it reaches to 000 million tonnes (may be in the next 500 years), it will be greater than Indias total tonnage at the ports. The writer forgets that India is growing by leaps and bounds. By that time, the total capacity of India will be in billions of tonnes. India obsessions cannot go easily. She is day dreaming that Indias main goal is to counter Gwadar. Vow. India needs access to central asia. Why are we comparing two. What are we comparing. Who is denying that China and India will be next superpowers. Who is denying that China is 5 times bigger than India economically now. Who is denying that China and India may potentially be the greatest trading partners. What are we comparing. Why are we comparing.
The last trip of IK to China has yielded the following: China refuse to amend CPEC even by a single word. China refuses to give any repreive on the past loans. Finally, IK got back empty handed. Pakistan has only 500 million dollars in foreign reserves, while India got 500 billion dollars. I understand the frustration of the writer.
Last, but not least. Modi is the only foreign delegate who was recieved by the current Chinse President twice outside Bejing. Twice. No pakistani got that kind of reception.
Zhang Mike If you look at Pakistan over 1947.. you will seriously question their (leaders) intelligence. Indulging in serious forms of terrorism and fundametalism as a state policy.. no wonder their break way part Bangladesh is set to overtake their GDP by 2020.
Zhang Mike If you look at Pakistan over 1947.. you will seriously question their (leaders) intelligence. Indulging in serious forms of terrorism and fundametalism as a state policy.. no wonder their break way part Bangladesh is set to overtake their GDP by 2020.
India and Pakistan are both poor countries, then why we are competing with each other and pushing one another towards more poverty. European history is full of wars including recent two world wars. But they resolved their issues and formed European Union. While we both are still fighting not resolving our issues and confronting each other every where. Lets try to bring some harmony with each other. We shouldn’t be a prey of media war. Lets work together and accept each other existance and fight poverty.