Gwadar - A Jewel in the Crown

[jupiter2007]

Oh come on we have enough problems already.These matters can be settled once imminent threats can be resolved.You are saying like that enemy is at our gates and we say oh lets divide the country.

This should have been done in 70s, Zia wanted to do it in 80s but Army wasn't in favor. Punjabis will never allow it............and that's one of the reason they don't allow anyone other then Pathan in the arm forces, only way person can get into arm forces if he can speak Punjabi or Pushto.

 

[antartica]

Guys ,

one question . pakistani'ss talk about a lot about the Gwader port . Any idea which Market is this Port going to to target .

 

[ajpirzada]

central asia mainly

 

[TaimiKhan]

Guys ,

one question . pakistani'ss talk about a lot about the Gwader port . Any idea which Market is this Port going to to target .

Its not about targeting anyone specific. Karachi port is very busy and as time passes by becoming congested also.

Gwadar has natural deep sea port capability and it will help in reducing the load on Karachi's ports.

Plus with a good road and rail network it will be very easy for China to export / import goods from Pakistan as another deep sea port will give additional capacity to handle in/out cargo. And this may even attract the CAS to trade from here using either China or if stability comes into Afghanistan, through Afghanistan.

 

[antartica]

Central Asia , at this moment doesn't sound viable . Due to situation in Afganistan . Moreover other alternate routes would also add to competetion and frankly economies of central asia only cannot support much .

Clarification by "taimikhan" seems more relevant .

 

[hazi]

ISLAMABAD: The Planning Commission’s task force on maritime industry has urged the government to cancel the deal with the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) to operate the Gwadar port.

According to a presentation before Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali, the Gwadar port project is a disaster, as the 40-year concession agreement with the PSA has not yielded any results in its first three years.

“The government and the PSA are in default of commitments. No commercial vessel (has) arrived at Gwadar port in three years and there is no possibility of any (docking there) for many years.”

The task force said the port would be made approachable by road in four years, and a rail link would take between 15 and 20 years.

A rail network that could connect the port with Afghanistan, and through Afghanistan, with Central Asian Republics and China, in addition to cities and towns in Pakistan, was badly needed.

The task force said that goods from 72 ships had been unloaded at the port at a rate of Rs2,000 per ton, which translated into a revenue of about Rs220 million for the PSA.

According to the presentation, the government was to purchase 2,281 acres of land on the waterfront for the PSA. This land was to be given to the port operator for 40 years.

“But purchasing the land does not seem possible because doing so would cost at least Rs15 billion,” said the task force. “And without this land, the PSA is unwilling to invest.”

The PSA had undertaken to spend $525 million in five years, but nothing was spent in the last three years. The PSA was not likely to invest even in the next two years, said the task force.

The concession agreement could be revisited. The best option would be to cancel the agreement, said the task force.

If this happened, a penalty of only $8-10 million would have to be paid. Negotiations with the port operator could be initiated on this issue, said the task force.

The use of three berths at the port was the best alternative, according to the presentation.

Building infrastructure was vital for attracting investments in areas like petroleum storage and refining, oil field-related equipment, construction and fabrication.

The concept of a logistics port should be introduced with appropriate industries, using the only Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) berth in Pakistan, said the task force.

If Gwadar was to be used for government cargos, “trans-shipment to Karachi should be considered”. With the existing berth structure, according to the presentation, there “is no possibility of the … port achieving break even and the government will have to subsidise it for many years”.

The Balochistan government was opposed to the concession agreement with PSA because the Baloch people were not gaining anything from it, said the task force.

The port would not be viable for transshipment or transit until the law and order situation in Afghanistan improved and China was connected via road and rail links with Gwadar, according to the presentation.

The task force pointed out that no facility for supporting the oil industry existed even though the port was on the mouth of Gulf. “Due to this, Pakistan is unable to attract investment in Gwadar from Gulf countries … in the oil and gas sector”.

DAWN.COM | Front Page | Govt urged to scrap Gwadar port deal

 

[All-Green]

This should have been done in 70s, Zia wanted to do it in 80s but Army wasn't in favor. Punjabis will never allow it............and that's one of the reason they don't allow anyone other then Pathan in the arm forces, only way person can get into arm forces if he can speak Punjabi or Pushto.

A baseless statement, there are people with all sorts of ethnicity in the Army, there is no ban in the Army on any ethnic group.
The majority of Army is comprised of Pashtuns and Punjabis from areas which have traditionally been arid land and no real alternative was available but to join Army, this has happened since the British era, areas like Attock, Gujar Khan etc. were always the main recruitment areas of the Army.
Agricultural Areas like Central and Southern Punjab and Sindh always had low number of recruits.
Also in South Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan due to sardar system most men are in the personal service of their feudal lords...hence proportionately less recruits.

Zia was Urdu Speaking and so was Musharraf, i wonder why the Punjabis and Pashtuns did not revolt if they had any grand schemes?
Zia did what he pleased and to say that he was checked by any group within the army is incorrect...he always did what he wanted to do...he was pretty much an iron dictator.

Splitting up into many more provinces is not as simple as it sounds, economic viability has to be seen...if you create another province then you will have another CM and his entire cabinet to handle and if they are unreasonable then another pathetic situation whereby combined failure of the provincial party and federation will in turn be exploited by the political groups to blackmail each other.
When the country is in economic crisis, the federal government will not be able to provide relief to a province which is created just to increase the number of provinces and is not economically viable...if this happens you will have many provinces causing a great uproar about their provincial autonomy under threat and their economic plight due to negligence of government of Pakistan.

What needs to be done is to uplift the economy and for that more provinces will not do a miracle in the short run especially since we are already in an economic crunch.

The most phenomenal economic growth in this country was during Ayub Era and during his era West Pakistan was practically under a one unit system...this indicates that perhaps our economic woes are not due to the need of further provinces but major planning and execution failures.

If i have a team of 30 odd people and they fail to deliver anything to me, splitting them into 10 teams of 3 persons each will not help me in anyway till i realize what is the reason of their collective failure.

I am not opposed to smaller provinces, however in short term it will not help us but actually complicate the matters.
New provinces will need massive new funds to operate and where will this all come from?
Circular debt is what has gotten us into this economic meltdown where government cannot provide anything because all the Provincial governments and state departments etc. in the chain have in the past not paid anything to each other...

 

[Luftwaffe]

Gwadar Port waits for ships
Vessels avoid anchoring at Gwadar as there is nothing to lift from this port after unloading cargo

Sunday, January 31, 2010
By Farhan Zaheer

KARACHI: The developers of Gwadar Port had perceived it to be the future of Pakistan’s economy. Gwadar is yet to shine despite all the potential of becoming a major port in the region.

The strategically important port helplessly waits for cargo ships while government seems indifferent even after inheriting the gift of Makran Coastal Highway from Musharraf government that links Karachi to Gwadar.

Local people say that Gwadar has seen a positive socio-economic change after the construction of coastal highway that has reduced three days journey to eight hours for reaching Karachi, the commercial hub of the country. Access to the big city has brought numerous bounties to the people of Gwadar district.

Gwadar Port was made with an investment of Rs17.2 billion ($288 million) with Chinese assistance of more than $220 million and over $66 million from Pakistan. Present government is still indecisive as to how to plan and exploit the immense potential of this port.

Ghulam Farooq, Director General, Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) said Gwadar Port will not be fully operational unless and until industrialisation takes place in Gwadar district.

“Cargo ships want to return with some cargo. Why will a cargo ship come to Gwadar Port when it has nothing to take back?” he said while talking to media persons at a local hotel in Gwadar.

Abdul Razik Durrani, DG operations of GPA said the port was increasing its capacity to turn into a hub port with all the facilities. “For instance here we have service berth that we do not have even at Karachi Port and Port Qasim, a RORO facility, which is used in importing vehicles and other machinery, fire fighting equipment, oil pollution equipment with an oil tank of 50,000 gallon capacity.”

Durrani added that two fish harbours were also under construction - one in Pishugaan and the other in Surbandar. Fish industry is one of the largest industries of Gwadar, he said, “we have cold storage system where fish processing and packing is done while a huge quantity of fish goes to Karachi for export to different countries.”

A coastline of 17.5 km is available to Gwadar Port where container terminals would be made. The master plan of Gwadar Port has LPG and LNG terminals that will be given to private companies on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, he said.

The first ship offloaded 63,000 MT of wheat at Gwadar Port in March 2008 and from then only Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has imported commodities through Gwadar Port showing the extent of limited ships.

He said TCP decision of importing commodities from Gwadar instead of Karachi Port was right because the cost was same at both ports. Calculations reveal that the imports through Gwadar were not expensive if compared to Karachi Port and Port Qasim, for demurrages and other charges owing to heavy sea traffic at Karachi levels the cost of imports, he added.

When asked why two ships have ran aground at Gwadar Port, he replied, international laws say that any damage in case of incident to the ship is the responsibility of captain whether it touches jetty or runs aground.

The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) the operator of Gwadar Port handles millions of containers around the world making it easier for them to develop this port according to the schedule plan, Durrani said.

PSA has much more important role to play than just the port operations, for instance bringing business, setting up container terminal, making it a proper and viable port is the responsibility of PSA, he said.

With the import of TCP commodities various employment opportunities emerged like truck drivers and other lifters that increase the hopes of local people that they will get more employment as the port operations grow. “With the increase in port operations, local people will get more employment and their grievances will certainly start decreasing,” he said.

“Private businessmen at Gwadar Port will certainly employ local people. Why would they bring labour for Rs500 per day when the local labour is available for Rs200 a day? How they can prefer to bring costly labour from Karachi or Quetta when they get trained local people in Gwadar? He asked and rebuffs the reservations of local people who think that they will be marginalized in employment opportunities.

Obviously, local people have the right and we would ensure that local people get training on priority basis, he added.

On the availability of water and electricity in Gwadar, he said electricity load shedding in Gwadar was same as we see in other parts of country while Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) was looking for desalination plant and electricity generation on its own.

 

[Omar1984]

Gilani lauds Chinese cooperation for developing Gwadar Port
​

KARACHI, Feb 8 (APP): Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has lauded Chinese cooperation in the development of Gwadar Port.He was speaking as chief guest at the induction ceremony of PNS Shamsheer at the Naval Dockyard here on Monday.The keel of the vessel was laid in July 2008 in Hudong Shipyard of China.

The Prime minister also admired the Chinese cooperation in the development of Gwadar Deep Sea Port which has significantly contributed towards strengthening the maritime infrastructure in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Gilani said the port has opened new avenues of growth and prosperity in Balochistan. The port would serve as a vital link in developing over-land trade route from Makran coast to the western region of China and the Central Asian republics, he added.

The Prime Minister said he was aware that the Pakistan Navy was also focusing on the development of coastal areas through its projects like development of Jinnah Naval Base and other support establishments.

He said the Navy’s lead role in contributing towards maritime awareness among the people of Pakistan was another positive undertaking that would accrue long term benefits for the nation.

Gilani reiterated the government’s commitments towards development of the maritime sector and emphasised upon the Navy not only to defend the sea frontiers but also ensure safe conduct of maritime activities during peace time.

 

[Omar1984]

Gwadar Port delay flayed in Upper House
​

F.P. Report ISLAMABAD: Senators from opposition benches have expressed strong reservations over the delay in functioning the newly established Gwadar Port and urged the government to take practical steps to ensure its proper functioning without any further delay. They accused that government's coalitional partner MQM was not sincere in the functioning of Gwadar port as Federal Minister for Port and Shipping fears that it's functioning could affect the business of Karachi and Qasim Ports. They urged the government to start construction of roads, hospitals, banks, and other basic necessities in order to attract foreign investment that could help steer out the country from financial crises. Senator Ismail Buledi of JUI (F) said that Minister for Port and Shipping, Baber Khan Ghouri wan against the proper functioning of Gwadar port as he fear that its functioning could damage the business of Qasim and Karachi ports. He said instead making the port fully functional, government was spending billion of rupees in the construction of civic centers. Senator Kulsoom Parveen of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) critisizing the government said that incumbent elected government was ignoring the promises it made with Baloch people prior to coming into power. She said government has made tall claims in the establishing and functioning of Gwadar port but no foreign investment could be attracted so far because it was lacking basic facilities of daily life. She said that government should pay its immediate attention towards the proper functioning of Gwadar port. Responding to the questions, State Minister for Port and Shipping Nabeel Gabool rejected the impression that Gwadar port was not sincere in functioning saying that 99% development work has been completed. He said import and export has been started via Gwadar port. He also informed the House that fund allocated for establishment for Civic Center could not be released due to concerns between AGPR office Karachi and Quetta. Nabeel Gabool maintained that Gwadar port was fully functional and it would improve the country's economical situation. Earlier, Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghouri informed the House that Gwadar Deep Sea water port project Phase-I including deepening of channels will cost over seventeen billion rupees and the government has allocated eighty-one million rupees in the current financial year for the project.

 

[Omar1984]

Gwadar port is fully functional: Gabol
​

Islamabad—State Minister for shipping and ports Nabeel Gabol dispelling the impression about the closure of Senate Gwadar port has said it is fully functional. He said this during question hour in Senate here Thursday. 99 percent of construction work at port had been completed.

Responding to a question he told the budget allocated during 2009-10 for Gwadar Port Civic centre could not be spent on the project due to reservations prevailing between the offices of AGPR Karachi and Quetta. Senator Ismail Baledi from Balochistan said federal minister for shipping and ports Babar Ghauri from MQM did not want to see Gwadar port as a successful project. Minister for Overseas Pakistanis, Dr Farooq Sattar said no provincial quota had been allocated in the appointments, promotion and posting of OPF officers abroad. However quota in respect of Balochistan is kept in view during the process of recruitments. Minister for labor and manpower Syed Khurshid Shah said had all the foreign aid provided for the promotion of education been spent on education sector then every child in the country would have been a student in school. He told this while replying to various questions. He alleged NGOs had swallowed billion of rupees in the name of children.

As many as 3300000 children are child labor and no proper arrangements have been made for curbing child labor, he said. There is law in place in every country that the parents who don’t send their children to schools are awarded punishment. In Pakistan enforcement of such laws are not possible.—Online

 

[Omar1984]

Gwadar to be main trade hub
​

Islamabad—President Pakistan Computers Association (PCA) Munawar Iqbal on Tuesday said deep-sea port in Gwadar has the potential to become the main trade hub for this era. This brilliantly planned project having radically distinctive economic and strategic importance can change the destiny of Pakistan.

Speaking at a meeting at the offices of PCA, Munawar Iqbal said that Gwadar is located only 180 nautical miles from the Strait of Hormuz through which 40 per cent of world’s oil passes. “The port thus emerge as the key shipping hub in the area providing mass trade to central Asian republics as well as across Pakistan and China,” he said.

He further said that large ports with huge cargo handling capacities can attract business community if efficient, modern and transparent customs services were made available.“The efficiency, transparency and speed that has become available to Customs today through the Automated Customs system of PaCCS, was the only logically solution for Gwadar,” said Munawar Iqbal.

He said that traditional systems would make cargo wait for days pending clearance, which will hamper development of this great project.“Serious choking of the port may take place if modern, electronic and automated systems were not used,” he warned adding that authorities should consider rolling out PaCCS beyond Karachi to as many customs stations as possible to enhance trade facilitation and to boost revenue collection.

He said restricting the benefits of PaCCS to only the port at Karachi was unfair to the traders of other areas of the country, he observed. Karachi port has transformed a once sleepy fishing village to a mega polis and we hope that Gwadar port will directly and indirectly bring lots of wealth, trade, and infrastructure advancement to the area, which has been traditionally left behind, in development.

Munawar Iqbal said that the multi-billion-rupee projects of Gwadar port and Rs 7.5 billion Gwadar Airport should be connected to the rest of the country through world class network and roads.“These facilities should be fully automated with PaCCS so that importers as well as exporters can carry out business activities successfully and with peace of mind.

He said that capacity of 4,300-acre Gwadar airport should be increased to handle 1.5 million passengers and 70,000 tons of cargo a year. Business community hope that political leadership will use their acumen to pacify negative feelings among some locals to get maximum advantage of the project, said Iqbal.—INP

 

[Omar1984]

PSA fails to bring business to Gwadar
​

KARACHI – The Standing Committees of Senate and National Assembly on Ports and Shipping have reached Gwadar to discuss the role of Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) and its non-commitment to follow the business plan in accordance with a working paper submitted to the ministry related to the poor performance of PSA.

It was learnt by TheNation that the Standing Committees of both the Senate and National Assembly held a meeting on Thursday evening at Gwadar to review the role of PSA and matters related to the land at Gwadar Port, while two joint sessions would be held in this regard under the respective chairpersons of both the Standing Committees Rana Mehmood-ul-Hasan and Mrs Gulshan Saeed.

The sources informed that last month the working paper on the overall performance of Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) was submitted to Ministry of Ports and Shipping by Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) asking the failures/short comings on part of GPA and PSAI to be first hand discussed in detail between the Ministry and GPA.

On the directives of the Ministry of Ports and Shipping, the working paper was submitted by GPA related to the performance of PSA, the sources informed.

The paper suggested the Ministry to discuss the matters like failure in implementing of Concessions Agreement on part of PSAI; Failures in implementing of Concessions Agreement on part of GPA; Failures on part of PSA Gwadar for not observing Prudent Terminal Practices as advised/recommended by IMO/IAPH; Failures on part of PSAI for neglecting maintenance of port machinery/crafts etc.

Moreover, PSAI to submit the details of USD$ 34.3 million invested; the Concession document may be renegotiated and amended; deadline to PSAI for non-compliance with Concession Agreement; and deadline for making the port operational not to exceed 4 months should also be discusses at length.

The paper says the major bulk for non-compliance with the Agreement lies with PSAI for the above said reasons, whereas GPA has not complied for not providing land for Free Zone development.

In addition connectivity with the hinterland and power supply is debatable for reasons that PSAI had surveyed the area very well prior bidding conference, but establishing of Free Zone should not be directly related to port operations for base cargo etc, there are several hundred sea ports around the world operating without Free Zones.

However, road connectivity with the hinterland is not a major issue either as studying the proposed different routes provided by National Highway Authority will nullify the claim of PSAI, the paper added.

Moreover, the main responsibility of the concession-holder is to operate, market, manage and maintain the Multi Purpose Terminal, and the Concession-holder was handed over the complete project ready in all respects for bringing in business.

But no business of any type was brought in, so the Government was requested to persuade the concerned authorities for help, therefore, finally, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan chartered a ship POS GLORY (DWT 100,000 approximately) laden with 72,700 tonnes of wheat cargo, it was learnt.

The paper disclosed that the charters were authorised by PSAI to load upto 14.0 meter draft this was part blunder committed by PSAI for allowing bigger size ship undermining the capacity strength of 50,000 DWT per berth.

Resultantly, the ship had to be lighted to 12.5 meter by shifting cargo to another cargo ship, while the entire operation for waiting time, transferring of cargo had cost several hundred thousand US dollars.

During the operations no potable water was available, canteen business was in shambles, port charges were on the high side and involvement of locals in business was minimal, the paper added.

And on completion of POS GLORY’s discharging, the port was again idle for several months. The port operations resumed on 20.12.2008 and ended on 14.01.10. A total of 1.49 million tons of urea and 0.9 million tonnes of wheat was discharged and dispatched for upcountry, but the port is again idle showing no sign of business activity on part of PSAI.

The paper stated that the Concession Agreement signed with PSAI is very comprehensive document giving the concession-holder almost 100 per cent liberty to market, manage and run the port but they have failed to bring in any business to the port.

As per details mentioned in the working paper that it was a long term agreement and three of the 4 bidders requested for extension of time for preparing comprehensive planning, but PSAI, being one of the participants, did not request for extension of time rather insisted for immediate negotiations.

PSAI representatives including their consultant had visited the area several times prior bidding for port operators, they were well aware of the facilities available at the terminal and connectivity with the hinterland, the paper maintained.

 

[Omar1984]

Govt urged to link Gwadar port with rail, road networks​

The Gwadar port has not been connected with national road and rail networks which is the main hurdle in making the port fully functional. There is also a shortage of skilled labour which necessitates technical training for the youth. - File photo


QUETTA: The standing committees of Senate and National Assembly on shipping and ports have suggested to the government to link the Gwadar port with main highways and rail and road networks.

A joint meeting of the committees held in Gwadar on Friday and Saturday reviewed various suggestions for developing the Gwadar port and making it fully functional.

Members of the committees observed that despite completion of the first phase, the port had not been connected with national road and rail networks, saying it was the main hurdle in making the port fully functional.

They observed that skilled labour was not available in Gwadar because there was no facility in the area for technical training.

They said that local people should be given priority in jobs and youths of Gwadar and Makran division should be given scholarship for training in technical institutions of Punjab and Sindh.

They also recommended completion of Gwadar international airport on a war footing and said the port city should get uninterrupted 24-hour power supply.

The meeting observed that workers in the Gwadar port were getting less as salary than workers of Karachi and Bin Qasim ports. The members urged the government to bring their salary structure and facilities at part with those working in other ports.

It was decided that members of both the committees would meet the prime minister soon to inform him about the situation in Gwadar and present their recommendations.

The chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee, Rana Mehmoodul Hasan, said that all possible steps would be taken to make Gwadar port fully functional.

 

[ajpirzada]

i thought construction of highways is already under way in Balochistan in order to link gwadar with rest of the country and also with central asia and china.
am i wrong?