Newly constructed highways in
Balochistan are not only bringing connectivity to remote areas of the province. They are also boosting a process of unplanned urbanisation which is bringing about socioeconomic and political shifts within the populace and challenging stereotypes about it
The Gwadar-Panjgur Highway, also known as M-8
Cruising down the newly constructed
Gwadar-Panjgur Highway, also known as M-8, one can feel like one is in a Hollywood film. We have all the ingredients for a Western — mountains as far as the eye can see, a bleak desert landscape, a harsh sun and a backdrop of violence. Except, instead of riding on horses, commuters are driving cars. And instead of 19th century American Old West, we are in current-day Balochistan.
Along the way, signboards of newly-built housing schemes tell the story of a transforming Balochistan, or at least hint at an aspiration to urbanise. Young vendors are selling watermelon seeds and eggs in the public transport and transit areas along the M-8. One restaurant owner on the Panjgur bypass tells Eos that the highway is providing economic opportunities to low-income groups living in the vicinity. “An egg-selling boy in Panjgur sells a minimum of a dozen eggs a day in the winter. If there is more than one such vendor in a small family that pools its income, it helps to support the family,” he says. The transit and resting areas along the highways have also helped small businesses — mainly related to agriculture and the domestic handicrafts industry — to flourish.
The new highways in coastal and southern parts of Balochistan were planned to improve connectivity and to boost the process of urbanisation. But these highways are also attracting rural populations towards their nearest cities. Panjgur and Bisma are apparently expanding alongside the highways. The Makran Coastal Highway (National Highway 10) and M-8, which were completed in 2004 and 2016 respectively, have made a huge impact on the economy and socio-politics of southern Balochistan. A new Baloch middle class has begun to emerge alongside these highways, significantly contributing to the process of urbanisation. “The coastal highway has not only increased the connectivity of the coastal region of Balochistan but also boosted trade and business opportunities,” says Bahram Baloch, a Gwadar-based journalist.
This is contrary to the perception that the nomadic Baloch with agro-pastoral economic foundations consider all other professions other than warfare below their masterly tribal status. This false perception also undermines their skills in trade and commerce. A restaurant owner and a fruit vendor in Panjgur share that they never imagined their small businesses would bring prosperity to their families and that they would be able to send their children to private English-medium schools. But the new economic and business opportunities have allowed them to do exactly that.
BUMPS IN THE ROAD
Some locals believe the M-8 will be used to transport oil to China
The newly constructed M-8 — which connects Gwadar to the old RCD highway near Surab and passes through Turbat, Hoshab, Panjgur and Basima — had been under construction since 2007 but the project only completed in 2016 because of the security situation and fiscal difficulties. Dozens of labourers from Sindh and south Punjab lost their lives during its construction in attacks by insurgent groups.
Now that the project has finished it has created new avenues of economic activity for the inhabitants of the areas it crosses, but in a province with a long history of people being suspicious of development projects, some are still sceptical of the
M-8.
Curiously, this highway is also called the CPEC highway, although it was not built by China or under the CPEC infrastructure projects; the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) constructed the highway which, through RCD highway, connects eastern Balochistan with Quetta and rest of the country.
Some locals believe this route will be used by China to transport goods and oil from Gwadar to the Xinjiang region. They fear heavy traffic will not only damage the highway but will also make commuting difficult for locals. Adding fuel to the fire, the recent heavy rains dilapidated parts of the two-year-old M-8 and locals fear that heavy containers will further deteriorate the roads. Others say that the highway is well made but, being a single road, it will get blocked or slow down public transport when a convoy of five to 10 containers will drive on it. These perceptions will only be tested when the load will come on the highway.
Locals also think that this highway has been built to facilitate trade and oil supply to China. And the neighbouring country should set up an industry, training institutions and other infrastructure alongside the road for the development of the area. These narratives appear to be a bit simplistic. The highway was planned before the CPEC and the Chinese footprints in the province. Nonetheless, these claims say a lot about the high hopes locals have pinned on the highway.
The locals are, however, not the only ones placing high hopes on these development projects.
“Urbanisation has a great role in bringing about these changes. It has upgraded people’s lives, their income levels and their well-being. Political activists might view all this with ridicule and describe these observations as naive but, from a purely sociological, economic and statistical point of view, this is a great story.”
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