QUETTA: Despite the government`s claim that Gwadar will be developed into the region`s commercial hub, it has failed to provide drinking water to the people of the new port city, Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini said on Wednesday.

`The people of Gwadar are facing a severe water shortage and are obliged to buy water for thousands of rupees per tanker,` said Mr Jamaldini, who is also the secretary general of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M).

An ordinary resident of Gwadar, he said, could not afford the hefty price of water tankers as the majority of people were poor fishermen. Talking to reporters, Mr Jamaldini deplored that people were deprived of drinking water even in the holy month of Ramazan.

He warned that if the government failed to take timely measures and formulate prudent policies to overcome the crisis, the situation could get worse.

Mr Jamaldini was of the view that before the development of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), thousands of people earned their livelihood by fishing in the Arabian Sea, adding that now they could barely make ends meet. The BNP-Mengal, he clarified, was not against prosperity and development, but progress should favour the local residents.