Kech, a predominant rural district, is connected with other parts of the province and the country by air and by road. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has daily flights from and to different destinations. Although black top roads are only 50.6 kilometres long, shingle roads connect the district to other cities of the country. Buses ply daily to and from Karachi, Quetta, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Kharan and some other cities. These roads are difficult to travel during the rains. As the roads cross small streams and flood channels without any bridge, traffic is blocked till the lowering of the water level.

The total length of roads within the district is 1,516.6 kilometres out of which only 50.6 kilometres is metalled (black top). All these roads were constructed and are maintained by the provincial Buildings and Roads (B&R) Division of the Communications and Works (C&W) Department. A program of "farm to market roads" has been started by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under which roads from small villages to the major towns have been surveyed. Unavailability, and sometimes improper utilisation, of development budget and highly inequitable cost-benefit analysis are two major factors behind this little length of metalled roads.

At present Turbat-Buleda road is under construction with a total cost of rupees 17.5 million which has been reduced from its original cost of rupees 25.0 million (as approved in the PC-I). To reduce the cost bridges have been excluded. It was proposed by the B&R staff that instead of constructing black top roads, shingle roads should be made after earth work. The department is spending 0.6 million rupees per month for repair and maintenance of the existing shingle roads.

Unavailability of black top roads in the district has hampered the transportation and, consequently, trade activities. According to the provincial B&R division, total daily traffic count on various roads of the district was 1,026 only. Due to high maintenance cost of the vehicles, transporters demand for high fare which further affects costs. Some areas do not even have shingle roads. Hence agriculture products cannot be marketed. The idea of private investments through Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) system for roads’ construction is viable if these roads help in enhancing the economic activities.

Any exact data on transport in Kech district is hard to find as no private motor vehicle owner gets his vehicle registered in the district. Only the government vehicles are registered or some vehicles are registered in other districts. Most of the vehicles are illegally imported from Gulf states via transit trade facility to Afghanistan and are re-imported illegally to Pakistan without paying any duty. These automobiles do not have any documentation, hence, are available for a relatively cheaper price. Same is the case with motorcycles. Hardly any of the motorcycles have a registration number. Many of them are illegally imported from Iran. The Department of Excise and Taxation is responsible for registration of automobiles and collection of revenue from the owners but the excise authorities seem quite heedless regarding this issue. Some vehicles move even with fake number plates on the road, but there is no authority to check them.

A limited number of buses ply from and to Turbat for other parts of the province due to unavailability of metalled roads. Journey from Turbat to Karachi takes about 30 hours while it is about 48 hours from Quetta to Turbat. Daily 6 coaches, from each side, ply between Karachi and Turbat, 2 between Quetta and Turbat, 2 between Khuzdar and Turbat via Panjgur, and two between Gwadar and Turbat via Pasni. A few pickups also ply daily from Turbat to Hoshab, Panjgur, Pasni, Jiwani, Gwadar, Awaran, and some other destinations.

Kech has no railways. The national flag-carrier PIA operates 26 flights per week to connect Turbat to Karachi, Quetta, Panjgur, Dalbandin, Gwadar, Pasni, Ormara, and Jiwani. All other cities of the province are connected to Kech district by road.

The district is out of Pakistan Television’s transmission range. Television owners watch satellite-recepted television programmes. Nobody pays Ptv licence fee, which seems justified as there is no Ptv transmission. Therefore no record about the number of television sets is available. However, as per estimate, every fourth household owns a television set and a satellite receiver in Turbat proper, while in rural areas this ratio is considerably lower.

Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Pakistan) has one broadcasting station of 0.25 K.W, M.W. at Turbat. This station was inaugurated on January 4, 1981 and daily transmits programmes for about five hours (1800-2310). It broadcasts in Urdu (3 hours) and Balochi (2 hours). People do not bother to pay radio licence fee, therefore no data are available about the total number of radio sets in the district.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has provided a telephonic network to many villages of Kech. At present there are 5 digital and 2 analogue telephone exchanges with a capacity of 3,000 lines at Turbat, 500 lines at Kalatuk, 1,500 lines at Mand, 1,000 lines at Tump, 500 lines at Shahrak, 400 lines at Buleda and 400 lines at Nasirabad. Other exchanges are located at Gomazi and Nazarabad with 200 lines each; at Balicha with 150; at Allandur, Dasht Kuddan, Balochabad, Hoshab, Kalag, Phatan Kahor, Riddique and Sami with 100 lines; and at Asia abad, Balnigore, Gishkaur, Goodi, Heronk, Koshk, Nodiz, Pidarak, Pirani Kahn and Tolagi with 50 lines while telephone exchange at Tijaban has a capacity of 30 connections. The total number of telephone connections in the whole district are 5,004 up to February 1997. Although there are about 12 private call offices in Turbat town, no public call office is there. However, one Customer Service Centre is ready to be opened at Turbat and 2 others at Mand and Tump, which will provide all the telecommunication facilities to the public. Telegraphic and facsimile service, promoted by PTCL, is also available at Turbat only, but internet and e-mail services are not yet available.

Contrary to other government departments, PTCL staff was satisfied with the revenue collection. There was no complaint about defaulters. Many applications were pending because of the completion of cable networking process.

In Kech district, the Pakistan Postal Services Corporation has established one post office at Turbat and eleven sub-post offices at Kolwa, Buleda, Mand, Tump, Nasirabad, Kalatuk, Shahi Tump, Asia abad, Gishkaur, Balnigore, and Balicha. 20 branch posts offices are established at Chahsar, Koshkalat, Jusak, Absar, Hoshab, Nazarabad, Shahrak, Soland, Kuddan, Khairabad, Heronk, Pidarak, Tijaban, Sami, Kalag, Kirgari Kuhan, Dahday, Dandar, Nodiz, and Dihat. The post office at Turbat works as night post office in the evening. Although not very regular, a door to door delivery mechanism is present and mail is delivered throughout the district. Mail reaches Turbat by air as well as by road, but delayed delivery of mail is a common complaint. Among the special mail services, the Urgent Mail Service is available at Turbat post office only. There are 36 post boxes available at the Turbat post office for the public. Fax service was initiated once, but has now been abandoned. Saving bank facilities are available at the Turbat post office.

The sole courier service (TCS) is available at the district headquarters, i.e., Turbat, only.

In Kech, commercial banking services are provided by Habib Bank Limited (HBL), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), United Bank Limited (UBL), Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), and Rural Development Finance Corporation (RDFC), while Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP) provides credit services for the farmers. The principal business of the banks in Kech is to process the remittance of money, which comes from Gulf states. However, lending of money from the banks is also common among the business community.

The Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan was established in the district to provide loans to farmers for agricultural development. In order to a give loan, a pre-appraisal is prepared by a Mobile Credit Officer, who after a detailed visit prepares a financial appraisal. After financing, the bank keeps track of its investment and an evaluation of the loan utilisation is made. Usually agricultural land is mortgaged and a loan up to 66 percent of its value can be provided on which 14.5 percent mark-up is charged. Sometimes personal guarantee is also acceptable if the loan demanded is up to 30,000 rupees. In 1995-96, a sum of rupees 41.873 million was issued to the borrowers. In the financial years 1993-94, rupees 35.483 million were lend and in 1994-95 this amount was 105.529 million rupees. Recovery rate has been below 40 percent till 1996, after which it has increased to about 55 percent, as a result of a special recovery campaign by the bank.

The Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan has introduced many schemes, some of which have been abandoned due to change of government policies. The bank has financed the installation of tubewells in Turbat, Tump, Mand, and Dasht area and as a consequence the irrigated area under cultivation has increased. Tractors and pick-ups were provided to the farmers for cultivation and marketing. A total of 50 tractors were provided to the farmers in Turbat and Tump at 12 percent interest rate under the Awami Tractor Scheme. Any type of agriculture based industry can be financed under the bank’s manifesto. Lending can also be made for seeds, fertilisers, and agricultural machinery. The bank has appointed 6 Mobile Credit Officers in Kech district, 4 at Turbat and 2 at Tump for providing credit facilities to the farmers.

The Regional Development Finance Corporation is functioning as a commercial bank only, while its actual mandate was to finance small projects in rural areas. The only date factory at Turbat was provided a loan of 8.7 million rupees; not a single penny has been recovered. Now the corporation is very careful to finance loans in this area.

The district has partial electricity supply. At Turbat the electricity supply is regular for 24 hours a day while in Buleda, where local power generation is arranged, it is provided for only 7 hours a day. Turbat is directly connected to the Pasni power generation plant, which is capable of producing 17 megawatt (MW) of electricity. In Buleda, power generation capacity is 200 kilowatt (kW).

At present electricity has been provided to 8,627 consumers out of which 6,723 are domestic connections, 1,820 commercial, and 26 connections are heavy load connections. Only 58 three-phase connections are given to run private tube wells. There has been a problem of non-payment of bills, but now WAPDA officials disconnect the transformer in case payment of bills has not been made by the electricity consumers in that area. However, still the revenue realisation is not more than 50 percent. Government departments and organisations are not regular in payment of bills, as they pay whenever they have the amount available in their budget.

The total estimated requirement of the area is 9 megawatts of electricity. After Turbat and Buleda, Hoshab will be the third locality to get electrified. A high tension 132 kV transmission line from Turbat to Hoshab and a 132 kV grid station at Hoshab are under construction. After completion of this work Hoshab will be connected to Pasni power station, via Turbat. The pace of construction work is slow due to delayed release of funds from the Government of Balochistan, that is funding the whole project.

Kech does not have access to gas pipeline supply, however liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is available in cylinders for cooking. It is supplied by the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Wakgas through their agencies in the district. Some proportion of gas cylinders is illegally imported from Iran. One cylinder of 10-11 kg of LPG supplied by Pakistani companies costs 330 rupees while an Iranian cylinder of 7-8 kg costs 250 rupees. LPG is also available through refilling in smaller cylinders of 2 kg for 70 rupees. Although LPG is a bit costly as compared to the other energy sources, its consumption is increasing. At present, 6 agencies of SSGC and 2 of Wakgas sell more than 6,000 cylinders every month. The consumption of Iranian gas is not measurable as many shops are selling refilled and Iranian cylinders because there is no check on refilling and selling of LPG. The price of LPG is a bit higher in Kech. One stated reason is that fare of one truck load is 1,400-1,500 rupees while SSGC issues a limited quantity of cylinders. In this way the price per cylinder increases to 330 rupees.

In Kech district, there are 6 rest houses managed by various departments. According to the provided information, the Irrigation and Power Department, Pakistan Postal Services Corporation, Building and Roads Division and the District Council own one rest house each.

Most of the economic infrastructure and communications are developed and managed by government, either federal or provincial. Private sector is involved in transport and banking only. Control of all these sectors by government creates a non-competitive atmosphere which ultimately hampers socio-economic development. One example is of banks; all the public sector banks are far behind the private sector banks, whether it is the client service or it is the recovery of loans.

Kech is connected to other cities by road and air, though length of black top roads is only 50.6 kilometres. Development of any area is hard to perceive without roads, therefore it is imperative to construct more metalled roads and link farms to markets by more shingle roads. Lack of roads affect men’s and women’s access to resources even further. The problems of transport affect women more as it further hinders their mobility Access to education and health also becomes more difficult.

Presently, the district is out-ranged for Ptv transmission. Human resource mobilisation can only be made possible through education, awareness and communication (EAC), of which television is an effective medium. Though politically it is true that a state run medium can promote the government perspective only, Ptv can still play a very positive role in change of attitudes, like on family planning, through persuasive communication. Therefore, after the construction of a television booster station at Turbat it is hoped that the people will have access to the Ptv transmission.

The district is well linked through telephone and mail, though, delays in mail delivery is a common complaint. Postal services need to be improved. Commercial banks are functioning satisfactorily, however the crucial role of the ADBP demands a broader mandate to serve the agriculture based economy of the district. Similarly, the Regional Development Finance Corporation should play its actual role of rural development through financing. Credit facilities are not available for women, for home industry in handicrafts or for kitchen-gardening, livestock and poultry raising. It is important that loans are given to women for their economic uplift and to bring them into the mainstream of economic development.

Electricity is the most demanded facility, either to illuminate home or to run a tubewell to irrigate a field. One probable reason behind the slower pace of manufacturing activities in the district is unavailability of a power source. However it is hoped that electricity provision to Kech district through Pasni or the national grid will remove this big hurdle on the road to development.

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