Gadani () is a coastal town and administrative centre of Gadani Tehsil,

Hub District Hub District ( Balochi, Lasi, ), is a coastal administrative district and located at southern part of Balochistan Province of Pakistan. The district was created after bifurcation of Lasbela District in 2022. It is located south of the Balochi ...

in the province of

Balochistan, Pakistan Balochistan (; ; , ) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khybe ...

. It is located along the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

, and lies 50 km west of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. The population of Gadani was estimated to be around 17,540 in 2023. More than 97% of the population is

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

with a small

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

minority. The majority of the population speaks Balochi, Brahui languages and there is a small Lasi speaking minority. They belong to the Sanghur, Kurd, Sajdi, Muhammad Hasni, Gurginari and Bezinjo tribes. Many prehistoric shell-midden sites were discovered along the shores of a small bay, near Gadani. They are characterized of heaps of fragments of marine and mangrove shells among which are flint and jasper tools and stone querns. The first radiocarbon dates obtained from these middens indicate they result from the activity of people who settled along the coast both during the seventh and the fifth millennium before present.

Demographics

As of the 2023 census, Gadani has population of 17,540.

Gadani Power Project

Gadani Power Project (also known as Pakistan Power Park) was a proposed energy complex in Gadani,

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

, Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In August 2013, Pakistani Government announced to establish ten coal power plants of total capacity of 6,600 MW with technical and financial assistance mostly from China. China is providing with debt to cover 85% of the project cost, while the rest of the finances would be arranged by the government of Pakistan. The total cost of the project is PKR 144.6 billion. 10×660 MW coal based power plants at Gadani Energy Park will be constructed, while Chinese have agreed to invest in 6 projects, two projects will be constructed by ANC Dubai and one project has been initiated by Government of Pakistan. The Ciner Group of Turkey has agreed to immediately start work on a 660 MW coal power plant at Gadani.

Port facilities

The Port of Gadani currently comprises the Gadani Fish Harbour and the

Gadani Ship Breaking Yard Gadani ship-breaking yard is the world's third largest ship breaking yard located across a long beachfront at Gadani, Pakistan. The yard consists of 132 ship-breaking plots."Record 107 ships dismantled at Gaddani" by Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana, ''Dawn'' ...

. In August 2019 the federal government announced there would be a feasibility study to look at building a modern port at Gadani. The Gadani Fish Harbour was built in 2003 as part of a federal government programme to open four fishing ports. The Gadani Ship Breaking Yard is the world's third largest

ship breaking Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

yard, and is located immediately south of the town, along a stretch of beach, with 132 ship-breaking plots. In the 1980s, Gadani was the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, with more than 30,000 direct employees. However, competition from newer facilities in

Alang Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Al ...

, India and

Chittagong, Bangladesh Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

resulted in a significant reduction in output. It now produces less than one fifth of the scrap it produced in the 1980s. The recent reduction in taxes on scrap metal has led to a modest resurgence of output at Gadani, which now employs around 6,000 workers.

References

{{Reflist Archaeological sites in Balochistan, Pakistan Coastal cities and towns in Pakistan Populated places in Hub District Port cities and towns in Pakistan Sonmiani Bay *