GWADAR, Sept 14: Life in the Arabian Sea fishing town of Gwadar, whose only claim to fame until now has been as a spot through which Alexander the Great executed his retreat from India in 325 BC, is undergoing a cataclysmic change.

This mega deep seaport is under construction at a cost of a quarter of a billion dollars, and if the vision of Pakistan’s leaders and the Chinese builders is realized, it will be transformed into a futuristic gateway for trade to the landlocked Central Asia.

Lying at the edge of the Makran desert— where three-quarters of Alexander’s retreating troops perished— and the mouth of the Persian Gulf, Gwadar was ruled from across the waters by Oman until 1958, when Pakistan bought it from Muscat for Rs90 million ($1.5 million).

It was a worthwhile investment.

Pakistan and its most trusted ally China signed a deal last year to build the 248-million-dollar deep seaport, aiming for completion by March 2005, Gwadar Port Development Authority chairman Rear Admiral Sarfraz Khan said.

The aim is to take on other Gulf ports, particularly Jebel Ali of the United Arab Emirates and Oman’s Salalah, and offer the landlocked Central Asian states their most efficient warm water access to both the West and the East.

“It was a long-standing desire of these states to reach hot waters and now we have ourselves offered this opportunity to them,” Mr Khan said.

“Gwadar will be the shortest route for the Central Asian states and their proposed East and West-bound oil exports if the plan goes well.”

Goods shipped into Gwadar will be taken by road to Pakistan’s western neighbour Afghanistan, where a road network will take them to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and deeper into Central Asia.

China is funding three-quarters of the project, supplying $198 million in a mixture of loans and grants, and Islamabad the remaining $50 million.

China Harbour Company, leading the construction, is in the process of creating a new peninsula by reclaiming land from the sea.

“We are confident that the 36-month deadline for completion will be met successfully,” Mr Khan said.

The China Harbour Company is even more optimistic.

“We are well ahead of the scheduled time... we will finish our work by 2004,” senior engineer Xia Yubin told AFP.

China will itself be a chief beneficiary of the project.

“China would prefer to dispatch its consignments to Gwadar port from its western provinces as it offers a shorter transportation route compared to China’s eastern coasts,” said the port authority chief.

As tugs, survey boats, and giant cranes increasingly crowd Gwadar’s waters, real estate prices are skyrocketing.

“An acre of land which used to cost Rs5,000 ($87) only six months ago is now being sold for up to Rs400,000 rupees ($6,920),” estate agent Atta Ullah said.

“We had never thought of such escalation of our lands value...even in our dreams.”

Locals face a bigger upheaval however: a master plan for beautifying Gwadar and creating infrastructure to supplement the port hinges on relocating 70 per cent of the city’s 50,000 residents.

“Under the master plan, the present population of the city will be relocated,” Mr Khan said, adding that they would be offered new plots outside of Gwadar “as compensation”.

A road along the coast is already under construction to link Gwadar with Karachi, 675km (420 miles) to the northeast. The Iranian border is 75km (about 45 miles) to the west.

The master plan envisions raising a virtually non-existent infrastructure on a barren piece of land.

An airport, export processing zones, resorts, housing facilities and civic amenities are on the drawing board, as well as a new road network linking Gwadar with Pakistan’s major cities and industrial zones.

But the Gwadar residents say they will taste none of the benefits.

“We are glad that finally development is coming to our beloved city, but it will not be of any benefit to us if we are driven out of here,” said fisherman Ismail Baloch, 35, facing forced relocation.

“They can relocate us, as they have state machinery,” said elderly resident Abdul Samad. “But can they push the sea as well to the new place?”