Pakistan delays China-funded airport opening over security fears

Pakistan has postponed the opening of a nearly $250 million airport over security fears, dealing another blow to efforts to boost Chinese investment in its crisis-hit economy.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was due to attend the inauguration of New Gwadar International Airport (NGIA), close to a port at the center of the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

But the planned opening on Aug. 14 — Pakistan’s Independence Day — was suddenly halted over what local officials said were security concerns after mass protests brought southwestern Gwadar to a near standstill this month.

No new opening date has been announced for the $246 million China-funded project, which got off the ground following a grant deal with Beijing in 2015.

“All the required work and prerequisite arrangements on [the New Gwadar] airport have been completed and it’s ready for flight operations,” a government official familiar with the situation told Nikkei on condition of anonymity.

The delayed opening — after an initial postponement last year — comes amid concerns that lower-than-expected demand for flights into the region, beset by deadly militant attacks and a separatist insurgency, would quickly turn it into a white elephant.

The single-runway airport, about 45 kilometers from Chinese-controlled Gwadar port, is spread over 4,300 acres (1,740 hectares) and can handle large-body planes like the Airbus A380. That will make it the country’s largest airport by size, ahead of Islamabad’s gateway.

Gwadar’s faltering efforts to kick off as a major hub have led to just three weekly scheduled flights to a smaller airport in the area from Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi — and some of those trips are routinely canceled.

Even with Chinese airlines expected to start running direct flights once the new airport opens, analysts warn there’s little chance of a surge in demand.

“The inauguration of NGIA is symbolic in nature because it is not commercially viable for any airline in the short term,” Afsar Malik, an expert in airline economics, told Nikkei Asia.

Successive Pakistani governments have claimed that the multibillion-dollar investment framework with China would help turn Gwadar into the next Singapore.

But on Monday, the country’s prime minister ordered that half of all sea cargo for government agencies, originally destined for southern Karachi, instead be unloaded at Gwadar’s port — highlighting its underuse.

Some fear the area’s newest transport hub will become the next Mattala Rajapaksa International, a large Sri Lankan airport built with a Chinese loan that’s been dubbed the “world’s emptiest international airport” due to a lack of flights.

“Vanity projects are not new for the Chinese, they have built similar projects back home which have limited use,” said Mohammad Shoaib, an assistant professor at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad. “The Chinese are biding their time and the NGIA can be of use once Gwadar kicks off. … In the meantime, NGIA and old Gwadar airport can be used by other support missions from China.”

This month, Gwadar saw huge protests staged by groups pushing for civil, political and economic rights for locals in resource-rich Balochistan province, home to the China-funded port.

Beijing has grown increasingly wary about future investment after its nationals working in Pakistan were targeted in a series of deadly attacks. The country is grappling with a rise in militant activity ranging from Islamists aiming to topple the government to separatists seeking to carve out a homeland in Balochistan.

Islamabad, already struggling with a shattered economy, has pledged to boost security for workers and, in June, said it would launch fresh counterterror operations nationwide.

Despite hopes the new airport will draw more Chinese money, some are not convinced it would mean much for a local population of mostly poor fishermen.

“Air travel is quite expensive for the majority of people in Gwadar,” said Mariyam Suleman, a local now based in Canada. “The airport is more to accommodate the government officials, diplomats and international delegations rather than the local population.”