ADDRESSING a public gathering during his four-hour visit to Kohlu some 350 km east of Quetta, President General Pervez Musharraf announced Rs1.5 billion development plan for Kohlu district and sought people’s support for development projects in different parts of Balochistan, including Gwadar port.

“You should rest assured that resources of the province will be utilized for your wellbeing, so do not pay heed to the elements who indulge in utterly baseless propaganda,” he told the audience.

The development plan includes Rs 1 billion for a road between Kohlu and Sibi; Rs40.5 million for 14 roads in Kohlu; Rs10 million to electrify villages; Rs20 million to upgrade an intermediate college to a degree college, build a high school and a cadet school; a Rs50 million water supply scheme under which 23 tube wells would be installed; a scheme to revamp Kohlu district hospital; and a scheme to build small dams.

The total length of roads within the district is 986 kilometres, all shingle. About one third (331 km) was constructed and is maintained by the provincial Buildings and Roads (B&R) Division of the Communications and Works (C&W) Department. The remaining length is actually still under construction but can already be used. These roads connect Kohlu district with Sibi and Rakhni.

Apart from lack of appropriate funds, uncooperative attitude of the local elite has also hindered the progress of this project. The work was started in the eighties and it is still incomplete. Now the National Logistics Cell (NLC) has started work to complete this assignment. Non-availability of funds , and sometimes, improper utilization of development budget and highly unfavorable cost-benefit analyses, are major factors behind non-existence of metalled roads in the district.

Non-availability of black top roads in the district has hampered transportation and, consequently, trade on a widespread scale. Due to high maintenance costs of the vehicles, transporters demand high fares. Some areas do not even have shingle roads, as a result of which agriculture products cannot be marketed.

Kohlu is rich in oil and gas resources. President Musharraf said an increase in oil and gas exploration would help step up the pace of development in the province. Exploration activities are however still hard to be carried out without the willingness of tribal elders. The tribal-political leadership is of the view that the land of Kohlu district is communal property of the Marri tribe. Thus before exploiting any natural resource, the government should negotiate with the tribal elders.

Kohlu is still deprived of many modern-age facilities. The district has neither railways nor air links to other parts of the country. It is connected with other parts of the province and the country by shingle roads only. Telephone facilities are available in two towns only and electricity in four towns. Gas is not available. The banking facility is limited to Kohlu town only and postal services are not available to all the villages. Radio and television ownership is not registered.

Basic data is not available about the district, which poses a major obstacle to development planning. From land use to agricultural statistics, no data seems reliable. There are external as well as internal inconsistencies observed in the data. The last census figures available for the area are of 1981 after which the district boundaries have changed.

In the present social and political milieu of the district, the role of local government institutions in Kohlu in development planning is limited. There is no infrastructure available for such exercise at the district level of government and below. The development budget is negligible so the only hope is the provincial Public Sector Development Programme.

Currently, development planning is mainly done from federal or provincial level down, without much involvement of the lower levels of government. Implementation of development activities is mainly done through the line departments. On district level, the Political Agent may play an active role through co-ordination, monitoring and enhancing accountability.

Although some census figures are available at the sub-divisional level, most of the data are of cumulative nature for the entire former district. The housing characteristics are unavailable exclusively for Kohlu. Female population suddenly decreases after the age of 10 years, which shows, that the enumerators have not been able to get to the real picture. Since 1981, there has been no population census conducted anyway. It is obvious that data collection has to be improved. Development planning will benefit from reliable data, which may be collected, processed, aggregated and analyzed at the district level.

Only 3.4 percent of the total geographical area is arable which means that there might be a lot of potential in agriculture. Crops like almond, tomato, water melons and apple are the most beneficial crops, in economic terms, which provide about two-third (68.7 per cent) of the total farm income while the trend towards growing cotton is increasing. Livestock is another area, which has great potential for development. There are plenty of pasture lands, which have sustainable grazing capacity.

Bochistan is a tribal and traditional society. The major ethnic groups in the province are Baloch, Brahui and Pathans. Tribalism and sardari system amongst Baloch is more prevalent and in practice than that of in Pashtoons of northern Balochistan. The system is stronger among Marri, Bugti and Mengal tribes of Baloch.

What has sustained tribalism in Balochistan? After independence, the British policy of keeping Balochistan backward was followed by successive governments in Islamabad. This contributed to the perpetuation of tribalism in the province.

Has tribalism been the perennial problem or main issue related to the economic development of Balochistan? Many people in other provinces deem tribalism as the main hurdle on the way of Balochistan’s development, but it is not wholly true. It has been one of the important issues related to the development but the Islamabad’s decades-old policy of neglect and discrimination has kept the province in underdevelopment trap.

Take the example of Mekran, which, though devoid of any tribal influence and authority and where the people have a progressive mindset, could not attract the attention of economic planners in Islamabad. If Mekran is on the road to fast track development, then it is just because of the serious developmental efforts recently made by the centre to open the hinterland of coastal Balochistan.

Mekran was also neglected and discriminated in the past. It produces dates of 130 varieties of export quality but most of crop was used as fodder for animals in absence of a date-processing and storage plant and the marketing facilities.A date plant was only set up in Turbat recently.

Why three mega-projects including Gwadar port, Mirani dam and coastal highway were not launched? The fact of the matter is that these projects had been fiercely opposed in Islamabad.