“If it were not for the strategic location of Balochistan and the rich potential of oil, uranium, and other resources, it would be difficult to anyone fighting over this bleak, desolate and forbidding land.”
There is no doubt that Balochistan is rich with mesmerizing sites and natural views. Running along the Arabian Sea coastline, Makran Coastal Highway is 583km long and links the N25 road and the Iran border. It runs primarily through Balochistan province between Karachi and Gwadar, passing near the port towns of Ormara and Pasni. Makran Coastal Highway was built in 2004 and is situated in the region of Makran, Pakistan. The region was once princely state and acceded in 1948 with Pakistan. Now a part of Balochistan Province, it is bounded east by Khuzdār and Lasbela districts, south by the Arabian Sea, west by Iran, and north by the Siāhān Range. Turbat is the district headquarters and Panjgūr, the chief town of the interior. Aside from the coastal areas, the terrain is mostly mountainous, consisting of east-west parallel ranges rising to about 7,000 ft (2,100 m) and enclosing fertile narrow valleys, including those of the Kech (upper Dasht) and Bolida. Makran’s 200-mi sandy coastline in Pakistan lies longitudinally with many hammerhead peninsulas. The main occupation of people living around this highway is fishing.
The government of Pakistan is putting tireless efforts in projecting the development in entire Balochistan because the future of the country revolves around China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multi-billion development project. Apart from these efforts, the provisional government is going with the deficit of Rs 61.7 billion in fiscal budget of 2017-18. Appreciation goes in the basket of provisional government because they have decided to level the deficit from the province’s natural resources.
The provisional government needs to flourish the Public Sector Developmental Programmes (PSDP) along the Makran Coastal Highway. Restaurants, mega shopping malls, resorts, fun clubs, lavish apartments and water parks are to be made along the coastal highway. It can be created as the vacation pit-stop for the foreigners and even the people residing in the country. A large amount of revenue can be generated from these activities in Balochistan.
These development efforts will not only help in generating revenue and soft image of Pakistan but it will eventually uplift the burden of unemployment from the Balochistan, as labour will be facilitated in the first phase of laying down the infrastructure and in the second phase as workers will be accommodated in those restaurants and shopping malls etc. The whole completion will be quite easy because now Gwadar is operational and the highway will also support the rapid development.
By taking these steps, the Balochistan provisional government can build another dynamics of Balochistan, which means the province will get famous for tourism and Makran Coastal Highway will be the heart of it.