For Arfa and Afza: KPT launches two ferryboat services

Free for the public and residents of Baba, Bhit and Salehabad islands.

KARACHI: The occasion seemed to mark a different set of emotions for the people present at the dock. For the minister, it seemed to be proof of the good work undertaken by his department. For one father, however, it all came down to memories of his 16-year-old daughter.

Federal minister for ports and shipping, Babar Khan Ghauri, unveiled the plaque marking the inclusion of two ferryboats, Arfa Karim (named after the late child prodigy) and Afza Altaf (named after MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s daughter) at the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) on Sunday.

“I feel really proud. What else can I say,” was all Amjad Karim Randhawa, Arfa’s father, could manage. He had flown to Karachi with his wife for the occasion.

The boats were purchased from Bangladesh’s Western Marine Shipyard at a cost of $4.6 million as it was the cheaper option.

While originally bought to ferry KPT employees between Keamari and Manora, KPT chairman Aslam Hayat said that the public will also be able to use the 200-passenger boat for commuting to Baba, Bhit and Salehabad islands. “This service will be free of charge,” he added.

Ghauri also compared the performance of departments under his ministry, including KPT, Port Qasim Authority and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, which have all reported profits, with those of money-haemorrhaging public entities such as PIA, Pakistan Railways and Pakistan Steel Mills.

Randhawa said that his daughter reflected some of her desires into a poem she wrote. “One of them was to become a fish, so that she could swim in the water. I think that one has been granted today.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2012.