Potential in ship building must be explored: Ishaq Dar

Chairman Ship Building Association briefs about plans for two shipyards to be built at Gwadar and at Port Qasim.

ISLAMABAD: The ship building industry can contribute towards economic development and poverty alleviation, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said during a meeting to discuss the proposal for the building of new shipyards along Pakistan’s coasts.

The Finance Minister said that it is the government’s responsibility to attract key industrial projects like shipyard industry as triggers for further industrial growth. He stressed the need to train and utilise local human resource which will contribute to employment opportunities and increase in per capita income.

Chairman Ship Building Association Vice Admiral Iftikhar Ahmad Rao briefed the meeting about plans for two shipyards to be built as joint ventures at Gwadar and at Port Qasim, adding that these shipyards projects will attract significant foreign investment. He added that the shipyard projects had been pending since 2008.

Rao informed that the maritime sector is the prime source of new growth, employment and social cohesion in developing countries, adding that while the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew eight times over 50 years, sea trade grew 13 times over the last 50 years.

The chairman added while India had over 100 shipyards, Pakistan only had one – Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works with only two small dry docks. He underlined that in comparison to other countries Pakistan had certain advantages in the form of deep sea shore, abundance of labor force and strategic location.

Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer Hussain informed the Finance Minister that a shipyard takes approximately five years to be completed and become fully operational, and the approval process would need to be expedited in order to make progress in those projects.

He informed that the Federal Government can provide land and related infrastructure as its equity in the proposed projects, while the rest of the investment will be made by foreign companies.

The Finance Minister assured the Ministry of Defence Production of Finance Ministry’s support to the projects, which would help generate economic activity and attract valuable foreign expertise and investments.

The meeting was also attended by Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood, Acting Secretary Ministry of Defence Production Major General Raza Muhammad, Advisor to the Finance Ministry Rana Assad Amin, and senior officials of the Ministries of Finance and Defence Production.