Gwadar Port: Blueprint for free trade zone to be ready in May

Once approved, steps will be taken to start businesses.

ISLAMABAD:

A Chinese company will submit a blueprint for the free trade zone at Gwadar port along with a business and marketing plan to the Pakistani authorities by May 2014, a senior official said on Saturday.

“The deadline for submitting the master plan of free trade zone along with a comprehensive business and marketing plan for the port has been set in May this year to get a formal approval from the government,” Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) Chairman Dostain Khan Jamaldini told The Express Tribune.

After that “steps will be taken to formally start business and trade via the strategic port,” Jamaldini said.

“The company will formally start its business activities in the port after approval of these two major plans by the government of Pakistan,” Jamaldini said.

The next step would involve acquiring funds from the Chinese government and inviting private Chinese investors to inject money into various businesses in the free trade zone of the port.

In this regard, he said, a meeting with a delegation of Chinese businessmen is scheduled for March 27 in Karachi to discuss issues related to the investment opportunities in the free trade zone in the port.

In August 2014, the Chinese premier is expected to visit Pakistan to sign some memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to kick off businesses.

Under the short-term plan, Islamabad and Beijing want to develop Gwadar port, whose control has already been given to China, in a bid to attract investment in different sectors to make it a hub of economic activities.

The GPA chairman said another delegation of Chinese businessmen would also arrive in Pakistan on Monday to explore the opportunities for business in the port.

Jamaldini said development work on the port was under way and land measuring 2,300 acres for a free trade zone would be handed over to the port authorities shortly.

“This land is under the control of Pakistan Navy, Coast Guards and provincial government of Balochistan and formalities in this regard has been completed,” he added.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Balochistan Additional Chief Secretary Aslam Shakir Baloch said the provincial government would take immediate steps to resolve the port issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2014.