Pakistan Opens Coastal Highway to New Sea Port

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf opened a coastal highway on Thursday linking the main industrial city of Karachi with a deep-sea port being built with Chinese help in the country’s south.

People in Baluchistan, Pakistan’s largest but poorest province, have for years complained that governments have ignored its development. The road is expected to open up commercial opportunities for tourism and fishing. Baluchistan’s coastal area has miles of unspoiled beaches suitable for tourism but access has been limited because of a lack of roads and other infrastructure.

Gwadar will become Pakistan’s second deep-sea port after Karachi. The $248 million project, largely funded by China, to turn a fishing port with a population of 60,000-70,000 people into a transit point for Central Asian trade has been touted as a showcase for foreign investment in Pakistan…