Inaugurated in March 2007, Gwadar Port was scheduled to become operational by December 2007, however, the development of the port and its operations have been delayed due to the sluggish attitude of the authorities concerned and the port operator – Port of Singapore Authority (PSA).
Meanwhile, working at a fast pace, authorities of the nearby Iranian Chahbar Port have succeeded in completing 90 per cent work on the port and the requisite infrastructure to make it operational in the near future.
In view of the delay in making the Gwadar Port operational, it is likely that Chahbar Port
might clinch bulk of the business from the Central Asian Republics (CARs) with which the port has already started making contacts through shipping.
Whatever may be the reasons for the delay, Pakistan is going to lose the initial advantage it should have had in developing Gwadar Port in keeping with its original schedule.
As far as Gwadar Port is concerned, the port operator (PSA), as per agreement, has to decide all issues relating to its operations, setting up separate companies, one each for cargo operations, marine operations and the free economic zone.
The factors impeding the Gwardar Port operations involve both human and natural elements. Primarily, these include:
1) Security concerns which impelled the Chinese experts to leave work in July last year. Now, they are likely to return by mid-February to test the systems installed by them, for eventual handing over of the port to PSA. 
2) Non-installation of a dedicated grid station, which was to be fixed during 2007.
3) Lack of progress in acquiring land for the Economic Free Zone.
4) Routing national transit trade cargo through Gwadar via Uthal, just outside Karachi, nullifying the incentives Gwadar has to offer.
5) Deteriorated condition of the Coastal Highway after the July 7 cyclone and the resulting high cost of trucking.
Gwadar port is Pakistan’s third largest deep sea port, after Karachi and Port Qasim. Due to its location, Gwadar port was expected to become a gateway for the Central Asia and western China, in particular Xinjiang.
Keeping in view the significance of this port, the Government of Pakistan has declared Gwadar as a Duty-Free Port and Free Economic Zone. A separate allocation of one billion rupees was made in the budget for the fiscal year 2004-2005 for the construction of the export zone and the industrial city.
To bring Gwadar close to the national mainstream, a 700-kilometre Makran Coastal Highway has already been constructed. The road links Gwadar with Pasni, Ormara and Karachi. Another regional linkage is the Gwadar-Rattodero motorway joining it with the Indus Highway through Turbat, Awaran and Khuzdar. Gwadar airport’s runway has also been upgraded to receive wide-bodied jet aircrafts, while a rail link is planned to connect Gwadar to the provincial metropolis of Quetta and then onwards to the Iranian city of Zahidan. 
Construction began on the Gwadar port in November, 2002. The two-phase project, designed by the Chinese Fourth Harbor Engineering Investigation and Design Institute (FDHI) with master plan prepared by NESPAK, was approved by the Government of Pakistan in March 2002. The first phase of the project was completed within the stipulated period – end of March 2005 – with the help and assistance of China.
The first phase of the $ 248 million Gwadar deep sea port project included three multipurpose berths of 200 metres length each, with 350 metres backup area and related ancillary facilities and 4.5-kilometer long approach channel dredged to 11.5 metres to 12.5 metres draught. China provided $ 198 million, including a grant of $ 49 million, while Pakistan contributed $ 50 million towards the completion of the first phase of the project. 
During the second phase having an estimated cost of $ 600 million, channel drainage draught has been brought down to 20 metres with a capacity of receiving oil carriers having a capacity up to 200,000 dwt and bulk carriers and general cargo vessels up to 100,000 dwt. Seven additional berths of 300 metres and two oil piers, a container terminal and other related facilities were also to be provided during phase II.
Because of its ideal situation at the tip of the Straits of Hormuz/Persian Gulf in Gwadar East Bay, about 460 kilometres from Karachi, Gwadar deep sea and warm water port is likely to emerge as a regional hub of economic activities and a year-round vital link to China, Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics, thus attracting transit and trans-shipment trade with over 20 countries, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Iran.
Xinjiang in China lies 4,500 kilometres from China’s east coast but just 2,500 kilometres from Gwadar. This will make it possible for China to route some of its external trade through Gwadar port. But the ultimate success of the port hinges on its usage by the Central Asian Republics. And, in this respect, cooperation with Afghanistan, which lies between Pakistan and Central Asia, is critical.
The landlocked Central Asian region that includes Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, Kazakistan and the Caspian Sea, is endowed with huge reserves of fossil fuel, which have largely remained un-utilized so far. Once the exploration and exports of fossil fuel begin and the wheels of economic development start moving in high gear, the Central Asian states would require multiple outlets with the outside world. A modern deep sea warm water port like Gwadar, with adequate communication links and ancillary facilities, would be a preferred transit destination for many Asian, African and Pacific countries wanting to do business with Central Asia. The Central Asian oil can also benefit South Asia, an energy deficient region having a population of 1.4 billion, almost one-fourth of the total global population.
Alongside Pakistan, many other countries are expected to benefit from the emerging trade and shipping activities. This will result in the opening up of the Makran coast and making Gwadar, which in the local language means ‘Gate of Air,’ an economic regional hub and a gateway for import and export of the merchandise of the regional countries.
Consequently, the global super power, America, and some neighbouring countries, who do not like Gwadar port getting its due, have developed stakes in the region, said Senator Sanaullah Baloch at a meeting of the Islamabad Citizens Committee held in early 2005. He  maintained that there was a dichotomy in the policy of the superpower, which “deals with China but also strives to isolate her at the same time.” About the disturbance in Balochistan, he asserted that it was not a local affair though it might have been engineered through the locals.
The recent disturbance in Balochistan is a handiwork of the vested interests. Exploiting feelings of past neglect and deprivation of a section of the Baloch society, the vested interested, it seems, engaged in efforts to ‘turn the applecart’.
 As Gwadar deep sea port holds a great promise for the region and can usher it into an era of unprecedented progress and prosperity, the authorities need to ensure completion of the project as early as possible.