The Gwadar port was inaugurated on the 15th of November for the 245th time in total and for the 86th time by prime minister Nawaz Sharif himself.
“Yes, this port has been inaugurated yet again and we hope that the rate of inauguration increases,” said commerce minister Khurram Dastgir Khan.
Analysts predict that if all doesn’t go well, we might even see the port getting inaugurated every fortnight by 2020.
“Yes, once every two weeks would be a magical figure,” said Dr Sharif Hassan, an economist at the shipping ministry. “That would be enough to tell the people of the world that Gwadar has arrived. And, you know, that they should also start arriving at Gwadar, for God’s sake.”
“Despite what you might have heard, we here in Pakistan would like to give all the nations of the world access to the warm waters of the Arabian Sea whether these nations want it or not,” he continued.
Political scientists also added that the political mileage that the port yields is going to get increasingly democratised. “With the devolution of power to the local governments, I don’t think the day is far when the Zilla Nazim of Layyah can’t come over to inaugurate the port,” said Dr Waseem Ahmed, professor of political science at LUMS.