ISLAMABAD - Gwadar, a previously poorly-known port town in Pakistan, has been rapidly evolving into a new economic engine for the country with the construction of a free-trade zone being co-built with China.

According to the Gwadar Port Authority, it is Pakistan's largest infrastructural project since independence. After the completion of the first phase of Gwadar port, billions of dollars have been invested in Gwadar and in the next one or two years the investment will likely increase manifold.

The authority said China is a major investor in Gwadar and has spent $248 million in the first phase of Gwadar port.

"We have finished 60 percent of the first phase construction of the port's free trade zone, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, one year earlier than we planned," Hu Yaozong, deputy general manager of the Gwadar Free Zone Co, said in an interview.

Chinese engineers and their Pakistani counterparts are working around the clock at the construction site with the hope of seeing the free zone start operations as early as possible.

The free trade zone is a key step toward wider plans to develop the warm-water and deep-sea port as an important regional hub that will benefit not only southern Asia, but also the countries in Central Asia and the Middle East.

The free trade zone, which covers about 923 hectares of land, will be developed in four phases. It is designed to take advantage of the province of Balochistan's rich fishery and mineral resources to develop relevant industries for overseas markets and to develop light industry for domestic consumption.

As part of the light industry plan, Chinese investors will soon be opening a Linyi market, a comprehensive shopping mall project, in the free zone.

"It is quite like the renowned Yiwu small commodities market in China," said Hu.

"The Linyi market in Gwadar will develop an overseas warehouse so as to make its goods not only available in the Pakistan market, but also in markets around the region."

The first round of investments in the free zone has almost been completed, including fishery and electric motor projects - and a business center is also moving in. The second phase of construction in the free zone will feature a major stainless steel factory, which Hu said would create a considerable number of local jobs in Gwadar, which has a population of less than 100,000.

With the further development of the port and free zone, workers from other villages around Gwadar are expected to flow in.

According to the deputy general manager, a training school donated by China will be completed soon. After short-term training, local people are expected to find positions involved with the development of Gwadar, he added.

Munir Ahmad Jan, director general of the Gwadar Port Authority, said he also shared high expectations about Gwadar's future.

Besides Chinese and Pakistani investors, a lot of investors from other countries had gone to the authority to consult about business opportunities in the free zone, he said.

In 2016, the Pakistani government issued a regulation which ensured a 23-year tax exemption policy for the Gwadar free zone, in a bid to attract more international investors.

Jan said that as businesspeople increasingly saw a bright future for the port, a growing number of Pakistani real estate investors had come to Gwadar to purchase land.

Land prices in Gwadar had increased fast and real estate-related industries had witnessed real momentum in the small city.

"We feel that Gwadar's free zone area needs further expansion and we made requests for more land," Jan said.

"China and Pakistan have an equally long history. But China, backed by its leaders, has developed rapidly and has become a leading economy in the world," he added.

"We shall try to maximize our experience, and with the cooperation and assistance of China, develop our own country and improve common people's lives."

The development of Gwadar port has gone beyond economics.

A vessel carrying construction materials for an emergency medical center - supported by Chinese donations - reached Gwadar in March.

The medical center, which will come into service in early May, is designed to carry out basic diagnosis and treatments and conduct minor surgery and carry out emergency rescues.

Xinhua