Gwadar Port becomes functional after 4th ‘opening’

[Naveed Yaseen]

KARACHI, Dec 22: Believe it or not the Gwadar Port has been inaugurated four times in a short period of three years. It witnessed two ceremonies during Pervez Musharraf’s era and one in Caretaker setup and the fourth by the PPP-led coalition government.

After the completion of two berths on the Eastern Bay of the hammer-head port of Gwadar by the Chinese company the then prime minister Shaukat Aziz attended a signing ceremony with the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) in early 2006. The occasion was also called a soft opening of the port.

With a little gap of one month former president Parvez Musharraf on March 23, 2006 held another ceremony to formally inaugurate the Gwadar Port.

The occasion witnessed unprecedented number of around 35 air sorties made by C-130 aircrafts and other VVIP aircrafts carrying almost everyone, who mattered in Islamabad. There were MNAs and MPAs and people in uniform, who stood behind their military boss.

But the worst part of the entire show was that even after spending millions of rupees on the ceremony it remained a cosmetic inauguration as the port had yet to become fully operational. For the consumption of the press the organisers created a show to make every one believe that the port has become operational.

A national flag carrier ship was given berth at the port along with a foreign container vessel. A dummy container was unloaded and with it the port was inaugurated by the president.

The third ceremony took place during the Caretaker set up when the then ports and shipping minister Dr Fahim Ansari went all the way to Gwadar to inaugurate the unloading of wheat from a ship that was refused berth initially owing to its weight.

The vessel loaded with 70,000 tons wheat of over 50,000DWT (dead weight tonnage) was no match for the jetty of the deep sea port. Therefore, the PNSC vessel, “Hyderabad’ was engaged for the lighterage operation so that the vessel can unload.

On Sunday, Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Mohammad Islam Raisin and State Minister for Ports and Shipping Nabil Gabol performed yet another ceremony when the first vessel loaded with fertiliser was allowed berth at the Gwadar Port. Five more vessels with fertiliser are also expected over the next few days.

According to reports Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was expected to grace the occasion but he was not able to spare himself.

The fact is that millions of rupees had been spent on these ‘useless ceremonies’ when the government is said to be on austerity drive to squeeze public expenditure.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/12/23/ebr4.htm