Dredging delayed at $650m port terminal

[LahoreEstate]

Ships pull up to the Karachi Port.— Photo from APP/File

KARACHI: There is a long delay in capital dredging of deep-sea container terminal at the Karachi Port because in one year only 16 per cent dredging had been done against a target of 30 per cent, the KPT insiders told Dawn on Saturday.



The container terminal is being built at a cost of $600 to 650 million with 18-meter to accommodate mother ships and future vessels, which are still on drawing boards, sources said.



Though the KPT officials claimed that the terminal would be in a position to receive the first vessel in the year 2013, but the current pace in the capital dredging being done at an estimated cost of Rs160 million totally negates the claim.



‘It seems that the KPT authorities have no fixed target and the company engaged for dredging has no experience in such projects because in the past it only worked in canals and dredging of river beds,’ an expert on port and shipping alleged.



General Manager Planning and Development Brig (retd) Jamshed Zaidi told Dawn that the Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), the terminal operator, had advanced $60 million to the KPT at the time of signing agreement.



He further said that KPT, being now run on the concept of landlord port, will have to develop the entire infrastructure of the terminal and the civil work on the berths will be done by the HPH.

Responding to a question, he said the breakwater of the terminal will cost around $100 million and all the funding will be made from the KPT resources.



However, port and shipping experts do not agree with the cost of the breakwater and said when the cost of Colombo south deep-water port is incurring an estimated cost of $700 million how could a breakwater of this nature be made at such a cheaper cost.



The experts are apprehensive of the project and believe that it would destroy the inner harbour of the existing port by causing siltation and sediment.



Nevertheless, Mr Zaidi refuted all such claims and said that the project had been taken up after carrying out all sorts of studies, including hydrography.



He further said that flotilla required for running the port will be outsourced and the KPT will not have to make capital investment in pilot boats and tugs.



The port and shipping experts even challenge the total cost for the development of container terminal being incurred by the KPT.



‘The project had never been approved by the Planning Commission and it had been taken out of the turn, which indicates that there is total lack of planning for such a giant project,’ the expert said.