Karachi: Port Qasim Authority to build $175 million 'pollution free' facility

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISMAIL DILAWAR
KARACHI (August 07 2009): Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) are all set to sign an implementation agreement to develop the 'pollution free' Coal, Cement and Clinker Terminal (CCCT) worth $175 million at Port Qasim. According to sources, PQA has issued the Letter of Intent (LoI) to PICT last Wednesday after which the two sides started negotiating the modalities for establishing the specialised terminal.

After successful negotiations the matter would be referred to Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCOI) for approval, they added. "The project is being undertaken under the landlord concept ensuring that it would earn more royalty for PQA with low tariff rates at the proposed terminal," Chairman PQA Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi (Retd) told Business Recorder. According to sources the required formalities would take at least a month after which the two port operators would sign the implementation agreement.

The sources said the CCCT, a state-of-the-art facility to be constructed on 32-year Built-Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis at Port Qasim, would have a handling capacity of up to eight million tons per year. The terminal would have the capacity to accommodate coal, clinker and cement vessels of 75,000 dead weight tonnage, they said.

They said that PICT would be required to execute the implementation agreement within 120 days with PQA after acceptance of the LOI. The most special thing about the facility, the source said, would be that its modern equipment which would not create any air pollution, as was the case at the coal terminal at Karachi Port.

They said big mountains of powdery coal, lying and being handled in open/bulk on dedicated berths at Karachi Port, are not only inflicting irreparable damages upon the environment, but also causing various respiratory diseases, like tuberculosis, asthma etc, among the poor people living in areas adjacent to the port.

"State-of-the-art equipment would be there to handle the coal at the pollution-free terminal, where cement and clinker would also be handled in future," the sources said.

The PQA chief eyes the project as a 'step forward' in the development of PQA in terms of capacity enhancement. "The project would enhance the port's capacity manifold, all the developed and developing mega projects at PQA could be possible because of the proactive strategy of Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri", he added.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=946354