Balochistan

Senate panel to review progress of Gwadar port

Managing director says port expected to be operational by July, 2015

Peer Muhammad December 22, 2014

ISLAMABAD: As the competition for new ports in the Arabian Sea stiffens, the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) is set to brief the Senate standing committee on ports and shipping on Tuesday on how it is shaping up to serve as an important port of call for trade and industry.

The GPA will brief the panel on the progress made so far on the construction activity and its connectivity to main highways and cities of the country.

The GPA has been facing difficulties in acquiring land for connecting the port with the main highways, according to sources. However, GPA’s Managing Director Dostain Khan Jamaldini has revealed that the authority has acquired over 32,000 acres of adjacent land from various parties, including Pakistan Navy, Balochistan government, Pakistan Coast Guards and private owners. “We have purchased the land but formalities are left for acquiring possession from some parties,” said Jamaldini.

Sources said that private land mafia, supported by influential personalities, had purchased land in the surroundings of the port in Gwadar at throwaway prices when the government had announced construction of Gwadar port. They added that these land owners now wanted to sell this land back to the government at inflated prices.

Jamaldini said the government has asked Chinese port builders to complete construction by June 30, 2015. “I’m optimistic that they will meet the deadline and the port will be fully operational,” he added.

Additionally, the ports and shipping committee will be briefed by the Ministry of Port and Shipping about province-wise appointments in the ministry and the National Shipping Corporation over the last 10 years. The Karachi Port Trust will also brief the committee about the appointments with province-wise breakdown.

At an earlier meeting, most of the committee members had expressed their reservations over the appointments in the Ministry of Ports and Shipping without following the province-wise quota and merit. Senators from Balochistan raised key questions about the lack of appointments in the ministry from their province, where the country’s largest port is being developed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2014.