China builds rival port as India-Iran project falters

New Delhi

WHEN the leaders of India, Iran and Afghanistan gathered in Tehran in the spring for a ceremony marking India's development of a strategic Iranian port, they recited Persian poetry and said their partnership would "alter the course of history." On a recent visit, roughly 13 years after India first agreed to develop the port of Chabahar, a single ship floated at the main jetty. Most of the cargo containers scattered in an asphalt lot bore the logo of the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. In an adjacent harbour, a dozen wooden dhows, or traditional fishing boats, bobbed in the water.

Months after the ceremony in May and pledges by India to inject US$500 million into the project, the much-heralded port of Chabahar remains a sleepy outpost - as well as a shadow of the Chinese-built port of Gwadar, 100 kilometres to the east across Iran's border with Pakistan.