PART 1 – From Port‑Side Promises to Presidential Fan‑fare
Gwadar, 2002 – Islamabad, 2015
- 2002‑06 Gwadar Port Phase I: Three berths, breakwaters and dredging executed for US $248 million, with China footing roughly 80 per cent of the bill. Beijing secures its first physical stake on the Arabian Sea; Pakistan declares the project a harbinger of “deep strategic partnership”.
- May 2013 Corridor Concept: Premier Li Keqiang floats a Xinjiang‑to‑Gwadar trade artery. Nawaz Sharif’s incoming government, desperate for capital, embraces the offer within weeks, signing an MoU that July.
- 20 April 2015 Xi Jinping in Islamabad: Fifty‑one agreements totalling US $46 billion are inked. The cache equals 17 per cent of Pakistan’s GDP and is hyped domestically as a “fate‑changing” event. Early accords focus on coal plants, motorways and a Gwadar facelift. Officials trumpet projections of 2–3 percentage‑point GDP growth and “hundreds of thousands of jobs”.
Critical note: The initial spending spree reads less like a development blueprint and more like a hurried wish‑list drawn up to impress visiting dignitaries. Transparency on loan conditions was conspicuously absent.