Qaim Ali Shah wants federal govt to admit its right before issuing lease to Chinese company. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that the centre is reluctant to accept that the extra land Port Qasim is using for commercial activities and the land it has reclaimed from sea belongs to the provincial government.
“We would never create any hurdle in the projects launched under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) but we just want acceptance of our right on the land we had given to Port Qasim .”
He said this while talking to a parliamentary committee on CPEC led by Mushahid Hussain Syed who came to see him here at the CM House on Thursday.
Hussain thanked the chief minister and said that the Chinese power company installing a power plant at Port Qasim was facing a land problem because the Sindh government was not issuing them a lease. “We request you to please issue the land lease for the power plant,” Hussain said.
The chief minister said that the PQA was given a huge land for port activities only. The extra land they work on belongs to the Sindh government. “In principal, the PQA would surrender its extra land back to Sindh,” he said, adding that PQA has reclaimed land from the sea as well. He added that according to the law, land reclaimed from the sea is automatically owned by the provincial government.
MNA Umer Asghar said he agreed with the Sindh chief minister. “This is a principal stand of Sindh government and needs to be accepted,” he suggested.
Senior Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the federal government should declare Keti Bander as a coal-based power park. “When you install power plants you need water. At Keti Bander enough water is available,” he said. “The Sindh government was ready to lay the railway lines from Thar coal to Keti Bander for coal transportation for the power project.”
Hussain and his committee said that they would talk to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about all the issues raised by the Sindh government. “We would hold a meeting in Islamabad and invite all the chief ministers and their concerned cabinet members to sort out outstanding issues.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2016.
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