Even as China has promised a $9.5 billion package to bail out Pakistan, Iran in a surprising move has delivered a blow to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Gwadar Port by refusing to supply electricity to Balochistan province of Pakistan, including in Gwadar district.
Islamabad depends on Iran for supply of electricity to key areas in Balochistan where Gwadar Port is located. Gwadar Port is key pillar of CPEC and jewel in the crown of the mega connectivity corridor.
Power supply to Turbat, Panjgur and Gwadar districts of Pakistan’s Makran division has been badly affected after Iran suspended power supply to these areas, ET has learnt. Iran traditionally supplies 100 MW of electricity to the Makran division.
A spokesperson for the Quetta Electricity Supply Company (Qesco) last week told the Pakistani media that Iran’s energy officials restored only 20MW of power for Makran after Pakistan officials contacted them for power restoration. Makran receives only 20 MW of the 100 MW of electricity.
The governments of Pakistan and Iran had signed an agreement for the supply of an additional 100 megawatts of electricity in June 2022.
For a long time, the people of Balochistan have opposed the infrastructure project, which would stretch from Gwadar Port in Balochistan to Xinjiang Province in western China. Gwadar has been tense because of continuing protests and sit-ins being held in the heart of the port town over the past two months. However, for the past year, the port city has been gripped by protests and sit-ins led by Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman, chief of the Haq Do Tehreek (HDT), who was previously a little-known politician of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
Gwadar Port is key to China’s military ambitions in the Indian Ocean Region and there are apprehensions of China making it a military base in future.
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