Munabao-Khokhrapar: Economic Gateway

Majyd Aziz

Munabao-Khokhrapar is not just a destination or the ultimate in liberalization and facilitation of movement of goods, services and people across the Indo-Pak border. It is neither a political issue nor is there a national security concern. The fact of the matter is that the opening up of this corridor has a strong bearing on enhancing the economic and social aspects of the bilateral relationship. Stakeholders, primarily trade and industry, and also the denizens of Southern part of Pakistan who need to reduce travelling time, are more inclined towards the opening up of this pivotal route. 

Munabao is a village in the Barmer district in Rajasthan in India bordering Pakistan. Khokhrapar is a border town situated in Tharparkar District, Sindh. The distance between the two is about 2300 km. Khokhrapar is only 147 km from Karachi. According to Wikipedia, “Khokhrapar railway station was established in 1870. Before the partition of India, the Sind Mail ran between Hyderabad, Pakistan and Ahmadabad, India via Mirpurkhas, Khokhrapar, Munabao, Barmer, Luni, Jodhpur, Pali, Marwar and Palanpur. After partition Khokhrapar was the last railway station in Pakistan on Hyderabad, Pakistan - Jodhpur, India railway line and used for customs and immigration till it was closed down after the 1965 war. In February 2006, Mirpurkhas-Munabao railway line reopened after the conversion of meter gauge railway track to broad gauge.”

There is also the zero priority accorded to completing the access road to the border at Khokhrapar. According to the information available, about 50 km road needs to be paved and made usable for traffic. There has been no allocation for this project in the Sindh Budget 2014-15. The political representatives of the area are also not pro-active in preparing project proposals to address this road issue.

It should be noted that the major trading partners of Indian businessmen are based in Karachi and then in Lahore. The single source of land route is Wagah-Attari where India has set up a multi-billion Rupees Integrated Check Post. Karachi or Interior Sindh based businessmen have to incur high trucking costs to utilize the Wagah-Attari facility. At this present moment, Pakistan has a severe shortage of upto 100,000 trucks of all sizes. During peak fruit season or during an excess demand for trucks for goods under the Afghan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, the inter-city rates for trucks shoot up. These severely impact on the transportation cost and are detrimental to trade enhancement. Therefore, for goods from Karachi destined through Khokhrapar, the shorter distance is feasible and there could be dedicated trucks for this route.

Indian and Pakistani textile related items could be transported through this route at less cost than taking the longer Wagah-Attari route. Powdered milk, pulses and other commodities can be cheaply transported too. There is strong demand for Pakistani cement in India. At present, cement is transported through Wagah-Attari or by ships. A direct channel can be established through Munabao-Khokhrapar route and in this way Pakistan can increase cement exports to India, especially to Southern India, where there is demand but the cost via Wagah-Attari is very prohibitive. Recently, the Pakistani High Commissioner again reiterated the possibility of electricity and oil imports from India. Moreover, Pakistani and Indian teams are negotiating the supply of Liquid Petroleum Gas from India into Pakistan.

There is demand for Pakistani Chrome Ore by Ferro-Alloy plants based in West Bengal and other cities in Western India. Pakistan has become a major Chrome Ore exporter. Indian Chrome Ore exporters can concentrate on China and through swap agreements with Pakistani counterparts have a common marketing strategy for China while Pakistanis can ship via land route to West Bengal etc. This is just one item but it is a manifestation of how to take favorable advantage of distance proximity.

More importantly, Pakistan has enacted the Special Economic Zone Act 2012. An India SEZ could be set up on Pakistan side of the border at Khokhrapar in which Indian investors could set up their plants to produce goods not only for Pakistani markets but for export either back to India or to Middle East, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Indians are big-time investors and many mega names in India such as Godrej, Adani, Mittal, or Ambani, etc have evinced interest in investing in Pakistan. Joint ventures could also be possible in the SEZ.

The Sindh government has often raised the subject of Munabao-Khokhrapar and there have been instances of debate and questions in the Sindh Assembly. However, a planned, concrete and workable position paper has not been formulated yet that would provide the required impetus to decide on this sensitive matter. The business community has often tried to persuade the Sindh government to set up a Task Force to generate a campaign to open up this route for trade and people movement. This issue will be taken up soon at a detailed meeting with the Sindh Chief Minister, concerned Provincial Ministers and Members of the National Assembly from Sindh. This issue would be part of the Comprehensive Action Plan that is visualized to enhance trade and investment between Sindh and Rajasthan, in the first phase, and Sindh and Gujarat, in the latter phase. At the same time, businessmen from Mumbai and Karachi would be interacting in December to move the process faster. The Mumbai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry have already signed a MOU to set up the Mumbai-Karachi Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Moreover, KCCI has already hosted and facilitated five exhibitions by different Indian organizations in Karachi.

The provision of facilities, the setting up of any projects, or the commissioning of any trade activity would always achieve full potential or maximum usage once they are in place and in operation. Every such initiative requires time, money and patience. The dynamics of the family and social relationships across the border are such that once a liberalized and free environment is achieved, people would then very comfortably and profitably take maximum advantage. This would also promote secondary benefits and attract economic activity along the route. In fact, the Munabao-Khokhrapar link may compel authorities on both sides to allow the setting up of Border Haats (common markets), such as those established at the India-Bangladesh border. This would be a boon for the area and increase the sense of camaraderie between people on both sides of the border. Notwithstanding all these positive features, the underlining fact is that unless the visa regime is liberalized and made people-friendly, all other initiatives would be long shots. The most prominent and paramount Confidence Building Measures are the liberalization of the visa regime, cell phone connectivity, and the opening of the Indian Deputy High Commission in Karachi.

There is a need for both India and Pakistan to revisit their focus on Munabao-Khokhrapar because the overall process of trade liberalization, future cross-border investment, relaxation in people movement, and the magnitude of fast track global trade have created urgency in removing bottlenecks and roadblocks. 2014 is vastly different from the narrow single-mindedness and parochial thinking of the 1990s. The moment to come out of the time warp is now.

Dale Carnegie pontificated that “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”