To ease freight load: Green light given to buy 14 cargo ships
These vessels, costing around $565 million, are to be purchased with assistance from USAID.
In addition to the imports of LNG, the proposed plan seeks to ensure an uninterrupted supply of other strategic commodities to the country such as oil, raw material and grains.
The ships will be procured by Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC).
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has given construction licences to three parties, including Global Energy International, Engro Corporation and Pakistan Gas Port (PGP) to guarantee LNG’s delivery, expected by the middle of next year.
Documents show that in a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on October 21, the proposed plan was adopted according to which the ships would be procured by PNSC to handle general dry cargo and liquid products.
CDWP was also informed that PNSC currently had 11 ships which would be replaced by an equal number of new ships to meet the present demand of seaborne trade.
It was also noted that the terms and conditions of the proposed loan were not given in the proposal.
Representative of the sponsoring agency informed the meeting that the requisite information would be provided along with the PC-1 of the project.
The Ministry of Ports and Shipping was directed to submit a well-prepared PC-1 for further processing through an approval authority.
Pakistan’s seaborne trade volume stands at 66 million tons and PNSC’s share is less than 10 per cent in dry sector and around 45 per cent in the liquid sectors in terms of volume.
When translated into terms of freight bill, its share is about 1 per cent against the average freight bill estimated at 4 billion dollars per annum.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 26th, 2011.
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Just shows how stupid the Americans are.
One has to wonder at what point after PAK has played all its cards, and it has few to left to play, what it will do then.
I dare say the American taxpayer does not know how his money is being spent.
@Cautious
Ugh...We, the people of Pakistan, don't want the handouts from the Americans. The Americans offer the "Aid" to the Govt, in full knowledge that the "Aid" won't be used for the prosperity of Pakistan, but as a bribe to fill pockets of greedy men and keep them quiet.
They also do this to further indebt Pakistan, putting it in a debt trap. They KNOW we won't be able to pay the debt back (with the current people in the govt), and use this leverage on us to use us, and our resources. Airbase control, tax-free NATO routes ring any bells?
It's a win-win situation for them; they get to show us as ungrateful and themselves as being 'concerned' for the state of our country, all the while reaping the benefits for free, and naive people like you buy it hook, line and sinker, none the wiser about their REAL intentions.
You don't have to own ships to get gas --- ownership isn't the issue - having sufficient money to buy the gas is the issue. BTW - when are you gong to quit taking handouts from the American's -- you talk about self sufficiency and national pride all the time maybe it's time to put your own money where you mouth is.