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Infrastructure Development in Pakistan

Country’s biggest port starts test operations

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KARACHI: The port can handle 3.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units a year (TEUs).
KARACHI: Pakistan Deep Water Container Port (PDWCP), the country’s biggest port, started test operations on Friday by accommodating the first container ship, APL Japan.

Official sources said the vessel took along side berth No. 4 of the port at 3pm for loading around 1,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of export cargo.

However, the vessel having a draft of 12 metres and an overall length of 262 metres is a small vessel for a big port like the PDWCP, which has a designed draft of 18 metres and operational draft of 16 metres.

The port, located at Keamari groyne east of Karachi Port, has the capacity to handle mother ships.

The APL Japan first called at Karachi International Container Terminal, West Wharf Karachi Port, and unloaded containers of import cargo and later shifted to the PDWCP, sources said.

Sources said that keeping in view safety factors in mind, a small vessel has been deliberately selected for test operations. They hoped that the PDWCP would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the third week of January.

Moreover, using a smaller vessel also provided an opportunity to the terminal operator to experience and check possible flaws.

The vessel came from Jebel Ali, a deep port located in Dubai, and will leave on Saturday (today) at 2pm for China via Colombo Port, Sri Lanka. This indicated that the port may play a major role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the sources added.

Under the first phase of development, the terminal operator, South Asia Pakistan Terminals (SAPT), has constructed berths No.3 and 4 while berths No. 1 and 2 would be taken up for completion under the second phase.

A spokesman for SAPT, owned and operated by Hutchison Ports of Hong Kong, said it has invested around $600 million. The terminal operator has already brought in equipment, including five ship-to-shore gantry cranes.

Besides, the terminal operator has also completed three building blocks to be used for administration, customs and canteen. A power station with a generation capacity of 28 megawatts is also ready.

The port has the capacity to handle 3.1m TEUs a year and have a storage yard to accommodate 550,000 TEUs a year, sources said.
 
Govt seeks $200m ADB loan to dualise Lahore-Peshawar railway track

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ISLAMABAD: The government is seeking a $200 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a project to rehabilitate and dualise the 460-kilometre Lahore-Peshawar track, it was learnt on Saturday.

The project will involve installation of modern signalling and communication system between Peshawar and Rawalpindi.

The loan under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Railway Connectivity Investment Programme will help make the country’s railway transport system more efficient and competitive, the ADB said.

While ADB has ensured provision of $200m in its Country Operation Business Plan (COBP) for 2017-19, the government has yet not allocated funds for the project.

The loan under multi-tranche financing facility (MMF) will also finance the realignment of its 53-km section in hilly tract from Kaluwal and Pindora. At two locations in the hilly region, two tunnels have been proposed for realignment of approaching double tracks.

The project will also involve modernisation of IT-based accounting system of Pakistan Railways. The entire accounting data and information will be transformed and migrated into the new accounting system.

Railways offers unique advantages for transporting freight and passengers over long distances, however in the past three decades increasing competition from road transport has reduced railways market share.

As of 2016, railway accounts for 4 per cent of freight traffic and 6pc of passenger traffic with major shares taken by road.

As a result, the financial performance of Pakistan Railways has not generated enough resources for investing in asset replacement and capacity expansion, an ADB report points out.

Over the recent years, the operational performance of Pakistan Railways has markedly improved and helped avoid a total failure of the sector mainly owing to improved availability of functioning locomotives and railways’ well-thought-out marketing strategies.

Despite recent improvements, the railways sector is still needed to upgrade its infrastructure on a large-scale to provide more competitive transport services, regain the market share lost to roads, and ultimately rebalance the unbearably unbalanced modal share between rail and road.

The Asian Development Bank has already started preparing a 2040 strategic plan for Pakistan Railways, and in this regard a technical committee has already been formed which held its session in Lahore on Friday. A three-member ADB technical team attended the committee meeting.
 
Bahria Town Rawalpindi, a city within a city. Looks Clean and Green too with proper garbage collection and all utilities. Should name them as different cities as this will be easy to categorize them.


Bahria Town Rawalpindi....a new town a new city.


Another good quality video starting from Rawalpindi, along the BRTS route on Murree road, down to Islamabad through expanded Islamabad highway.

 
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