Karachi, February 4:

Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf will formally open next month the country’s largest port at Gwadar in Balochistan, expected to play a key commercial and strategic role as the gateway to West and Central Asia.

The deep-sea port on the Arabian Sea, about 450-km west of Karachi and about 70-km east of the Iranian border, has been designed, financed and built by the Chinese. PSA International, a consortium owned by the Singapore government investment holding Temasek, will manage it. PM Shaukat Aziz will sign a 40-year lease deal. However, Pakistan would need to put its house in order in Balochistan province where efforts to quell a separatist movement have led to continued violence and damaged infrastructure.

Shipping and Ports Minister Babar Khan Ghouri said that the port would be used ‘solely for commercial and trade activities’ and that it would be used for security purposes only ‘in case of an emergency’.