A Ceremony was Held for the Opening of the China-assisted Gwadar East Bay Expressway in Pakistan

Xinhua News Agency, Gwadar, Pakistan, June 3 (Reporter Jiang Chao) The opening ceremony of the China-assisted Gwadar East Bay Expressway in Pakistan was held on the 3rd, marking the official opening of the road connecting Gwadar Port area to the outside world.

The ceremony was held in Gwadar, Baluchistan Province, Southwest Pakistan. Addressing the ceremony, Pakistani Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif thanked the Chinese side for its assistance and the hard work of the Chinese builders.  He said the East Bay Expressway is a high-quality road built by China and will connect with Pakistan's national highway when it is opened to traffic, opening up the transportation channel between Gwadar Port and Karachi.

Shabaz said China had donated solar power equipment to thousands of Gwadar households, helped build infrastructure such as hospitals and would also help build seawater desalination plants.  Pakistan appreciates China's great contribution in helping solve the livelihood problems in Gwadar, he thanked the Chinese side for giving full consideration to the interests of local fishermen in the design and construction of the Dongwan Expressway, and paying attention to and protecting the national natural heritage such as geology and geomorphology treasured by the Pakistani side, and resolved to speed up the construction of Gwadar.

Pang Chunxue, Charge d 'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, said in his speech that China attaches great importance to the people's livelihood in Gwadar and is willing to continue to promote the development of medical care, education, training of professional and technical personnel in Gwadar and other areas related to people's livelihood, work hard to help the local people solve the shortage of electricity and fresh water resources and other issues, and promote the construction of a smart, green and modern Gwadar port, and allow the local people to share the high-quality development results of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.  With the joint efforts of China and Pakistan, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project in Gwadar Port has been successfully implemented.  The construction of the East Bay Expressway is designed to benefit the local people, and the needs of local fishermen were fully considered in its design and construction.  When the new Gwadar International Airport is completed in the future, it will work with the East Bay Expressway to promote Gwadar as a regional transportation hub and create a better life for the local people.

It is learnt that the Gwadar East Bay Expressway, with a total length of 19.49 kilometers, starts from Gwadar Port in the south and connects to Pakistan's National Highway no.10.  It is one of the early harvest projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.  The project is being built by China Communications Construction Co., LTD. Construction will officially start in 2017.

On the same day, the groundbreaking ceremony of China-assisted projects such as the Gwadar Seawater Desalination Plant in Pakistan was held at the site.