Gwadar port city development project | News and Updates

[Omar1984]

Deal with Singapore firm may be cancelled
​

Former president Pervez Musharraf’s government gave management and operations of the port to Singapore’s PSA International Ltd in February 2007 for 40 years.


ISLAMABAD: The chief minister of Balochistan has pledged to challenge in court what he said was a “one-sided” deal with a Singapore-based company to run the Gwadar Port.

Authorities also dismissed the notion that control of the port would be handed over to the Chinese because of their substantial investment. However, analysts suspect that China will push for a major say over the port in a bid to expand influence in the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is keen to become a conduit for trade to landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia. The country has three major ports – Gwadar in Balochistan and two at Karachi.

Former president Pervez Musharraf’s government gave management and operational control of the deep-sea port in Gwadar to Singapore’s PSA International Limited in February 2007 for a period of 40 years.

However, Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani on Tuesday asserted that he will seek cancellation of the agreement through the Supreme Court.

“After consultation with legal experts and the law ministry, we have decided that we will go to court this month and seek its cancellation,” said Raisani. “It’s a one-sided agreement. It’s our land. It’s our port and we should run it.”

He added that PSA International had neither brought in trade nor had it expanded the port.

Furthermore, he clarified that there were no plans to hand over the port to China. “Why can we not operate it ourselves? We have trained people,” questioned the chief minister.

Meanwhile, PSA – which runs ports around the world and is owned by state wealth fund Temasek Holdings – declined to comment.

Low cargo levels, no investment

Gwadar Port handled cargo worth approximately $700 million in cargo in 2009, less than half of its capacity, according to a port and shipping ministry official. He said the company had made no investment despite an agreement to invest $525 million over five years.

Pakistan gets only nine percent of the port’s total revenue. Slow business has also caused suspension of the planned $1.5 billion investment by a Chinese company, Tianjin Zhongbei Harbour Engineering, he said.

In September, the naval chief had asked the government to review the contract for the same reasons.

Gwadar was conceived over a decade ago with hopes it would handle transhipment traffic for the Gulf. A regional maritime industry source said a failure to develop infrastructure by the port and check security discouraged trade.

Under the agreement, the Balochistan government, which has been battling a decades-old low-level revolt by nationalists for provincial autonomy, was to develop a free-zone for warehouses and export processing zone in addition to establishing road and rail links.

The central government also appears unwilling to defend the contract with PSA. “I don’t think we will. We can only prove that we followed the due process at the time of awarding the contract,” commented a senior government official.

Middle East and South Asia director of the private intelligence company STRATFOR, Kamran Bokhari, said Beijing was probably seeking to acquire influence over the port. “The Chinese do want to have considerable access to it,” he said. “The port serves as a key location facilitating Beijing’s attempts to expand its influence further west,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10th, 2010.

 

[Omar1984]

N-85 highway to resolve Balochistan’s problems ​

* No country providing oil to Pak free of cost, NA informed

* Motorway Police being trained to counter terrorism

By Ijaz Kakakhel

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday was informed that the incompletion of the N-85 highway was the major hurdle in getting maximum output from the Gwadar Port, which has the capacity to resolve half of the problems of Balochistan.

During a question-hour session, Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri said the port had the capacity to increase imports and exports to Central Asian states.

“The completion of N-85 road linking Gwadar with Rathodero would make the port operational for transit trade and local import and export. Until completion of this road the port could not be developed. This was included in mega projects of Balochistan and through full operations of the port, majority of problems of the province would be resolved, “ he said.

He said all the basic facilities were available at Gwadar Fish Harbour except for pontoons (low level floating platform for small fishing boats). The PC-1 for pontoons had been approved and the same would be procured subject to funds-availability, he added. Regarding smuggling, the minister said that control and prevention of smuggling was related with the defence and interior ministries.

Answering a question, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar informed the lower house that no country had supplied free of cost oil to Pakistan except some oil companies of Kuwait which provided oil on deferred payment. In response to supplementary questions, he said that the government was aware of the fuel prices and was introducing LPG fuel and CNG buses. “We can not control fuel prices artificially by borrowing as done in the past,” he maintained.

About increase in fuel prices, the minister said that increase in fuel prices was linked with international market and the government collected no additional money by increasing fuel prices. To another supplementary question, the minister said that the government collects Rs 8 and Rs 10 per liter on diesel and motor spirit respectively under the head of petroleum levy.

He said that about 9,615,254 tonnes of salt was produced during the last five year in the country. “At present, rock salt is being mined from the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” he added. He said that large salt resources were available in the country, that were sufficient for more than 100 years.

Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar apprised the National Assembly that the new aviation policy was being introduced and its draft was with the Defence Ministry. However, the policy was linked with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plan of up-gradation and rehabilitation, he added. The minister said, “ We are waiting for some details regarding Airblue crash and the report would be made public as soon as possible”. About counter-terrorism, Federal Minister for Communication Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan in a written reply to the National Assembly said that special commando course had been started for the police.

“During the training, modern and the most sophisticated techniques have been introduced to eliminate terrorism. Four batches of commandos have already been trained and the fifth batch is in progress. Subjects of effective security measures and anti-terrorism were being taught in each course,” the minister maintained.

 

[mughaljee]

since many years, we are not getting by gwadar , which we calculate ?

 

[faisaljaffery]

any update regarding work progress on Gwadar Ratodero Motorway?

 

[Omar1984]

SC moved for early hearing of plea against Gwadar contract ​

LAHORE: Watan Party (women’s wing) Lahore President Mamona Khan on Monday moved the Supreme Court, seeking an early decision on a petition already pending with the court against awarding Gwadar Deep Seaport contract to the Singapore Ports Authority (SPA).

The petitioner’s counsel, Barrister Zafarullah Khan, requested the court to fix December 8 for hearing of the main petition. He alleged that the contact awarded to the Singaporean company in 2006 had violated several articles of the constitution.

 

[muse]

Who cares if Pakistan loses, some politician and some bureaucrat will win


Who is selling this gold mine?

Monday, November 22, 2010
Ikram Sehgal



Reko Diq is a remote location in the north-west of Chagai, a sparsely populated district in north-western Balochistan. The weather in the desert there ranges from searing summers of 40-50°C to freezing winters of down to –10°C, with precipitations (winter rain and some snowfall) of less than 40mm. Periods of high wind and dust- and sandstorms have a demobilising impact on local activities and trade. Access to Chagai district is from the Zahidan-Quetta highway.

A large low-grade copper porphyry deposit, Reko Diq has total mineral resources of 5.9 billion tons of ore with an average copper grade of 0.41 per cent and gold grade of 0.22 g/ton. The economically mineable portion of the deposit has been calculated at 2.2 billion tons, with an average copper grade of 0.53 per cent and gold grade of 0.30 g/ton. The annual production is estimated at 200,000 tons of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold contained in 600,000 tons of concentrate. At today’s international prices of copper at $8,600/ton (with cost of production at $1,500/ton) and gold at $1,350/ounce (with cost of production $350/ounce), the profit works out to $1.42 billion for copper and $2.5 billion for gold, $4 billion approximately annually from a revenue of $4.65 billion. This translates to $224 billion’s profit from revenues of $260 billion over the life of the mine.

BHP Billiton initially signed the exploration licence with the government of Balochistan in 1993, while Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) was being formed in Australia, with BHP Billiton having 75 per cent and the Balochistan government 25 per cent.

With gold and copper established in substantial quantity, BHP sold its stake 37.5 per cent each to the Chilean Conglomerate Antofagasta Minerals and the Canadian company Barrick Gold. TCC has completed an extensive exploration programme at Reko Diq with more than 300,000 meters’ drilling. Negotiations with the Balochistan government and the government of Pakistan are underway for getting the very crucial mining licence, since the exploration licence expires in February.

As soon as the mining lease is granted, it will be followed by project financing and construction of ancillary infrastructure to make the mine operational. $3 billion’s investment is required over a four-year period of construction to build a world-class copper and gold open-pit mine that will utilise a conventional “truck and shovel” technique. Giant mechanical shovels will be used to dig out the copper ore, which will then be loaded onto 360-ton trucks to haul copper ore on a daily basis from the mine to the processing facility. The rocks (ore) will be crushed in giant crushers, and the crushed ore will be transferred to a fine-grinding stage and converted into a powdered form. Containing small quantities of copper and gold, this powder will pass through a separation process called “flotation,” resulting in 30 per cent concentrated slurry of copper and traces of gold.

The initial processing plant envisages 110,000 tons of ore per day (and another 170,000 tons of waste) processed through the flotation process. A 682-kilometre concentrate pipeline, the world’s largest, will then transport the slurry from the mine site to Gwadar to a dedicated marine terminal facility at the port for storage and subsequent transfer to shipping vessels.

Commercial mining operations are anticipated to last 56 years at an estimated annual operating expense of about $400 million, approximately half of which will be spent within Pakistan. TCC claims to have already spent over $200 million since 2006 on exploration and technical studies.

Plans include a 189MW dedicated plant which will provide power for the project, ancillaries and the residential colony. Heavy furnace-oil-based combined cycle reciprocating engines will be installed to provide 99.5 per cent availability. The concentrate produced at the processing plant will be further fluidised into a slurry of 53-57 per cent and transported to Gwadar via a pipeline.

The other main features of the pipeline, apart from its being the world’s largest underground pipeline for slurry, are that leak-detection equipment will be installed and the pipeline will be encased in concrete at river crossings and three booster stations will be established along the route.

A number of facilities will be built at Gwadar port in order to handle the concentrate for final shipment. They include dewatering facilities and pressure filters for the removal of concentrate to from the slurry, a covered shed to store dried concentrate, a conveyor belt to transport the concentrate from the storage yard to the shipping berth, and a ship-loader to load the ship with the concentrate cargo.
About the investors, BHP Billiton is the world’s largest supplier of iron ore and sea-traded hard coking coal, largest producer of export thermal coal, lead and zinc and third-largest producer of copper. It is the world’s sixth-largest producer of aluminium and produces three per cent of the world’s diamond supply. It has a significant oil and gas business.

To build and operate a railway from the northern Chilean port of Antofagasta (which gives the name to the company) to the Bolivian capital of La Paz, Antofagasta and the Bolivia Railway Company were incorporated in London in 1888. A majority interest in the company was acquired in 1980 by the Luksic Group, a Chilean industrial family. The patriarch of the Luksic family, the late Andronico Luksic, who died in 2005, was born to a Croatian immigrant and a Bolivian mother. In 1982, Antofagasta Holdings Plc (renamed Antofagasta Plc in 1999) was formed as the new holding company in Chile. Antofagasta diversified into a number of other sectors, including mining. Today it is one of the largest international copper-producing companies in the world.

Canada’s Barrick Gold Corporation, owned by the Munk family, is the gold industry leader, with 25 operating mines and a number of large, long-life projects located across five continents. Its founder-chairman, Peter Munk, is, like Luksic an immigrant, but from Hungary. It has the world’s largest reserves of 139.8 million ounces of gold, 6.1 billion pounds of copper reserves and 1.06 billion ounces of contained silver within gold reserves as of Dec 31, 2009. In 2009, Barrick produced 7.42 million ounces of gold at the net cash cost of $363 per ounce and 393 million pounds of copper at the net cash cost of 0.85 per pound. It has since reduced costs even further.

Who in the government of Pakistan or the Balochistan government originally gave the waiver to BHP Billiton to palm off its 75 per cent share and at what price, without being privy to the deal? Why are the Chileans and Canadians risking life and limb, as well as their investment in such a dangerous area, except for a huge profit? Why is Tethyan not making the smelting plants in Pakistan, instead of shipping the concentrate abroad? Why don’t we do the mining ourselves, paying for foreign expertise.

Considering that cyanide will be used extensively in the mining, that should go well with the dirt which we will be left at the end of this scandalous transition.

Who is now trying to sell this gold mine for nothing? Can the Supreme Court please make an example out of someone?


The writer is a defence and political analyst. Email: isehgal@pathfinder9 .com

 

[Omar1984]

Supreme Court hears challenge to Gwadar port deal ​

The chief minister of Balochistan, the southwestern province where Gwadar port is located, is seeking the cancellation of the contract with Singapore state-owned PSA International Ltd on the grounds that it is a “one-sided” deal. – Photo by APP (File)


ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing a regional government’s challenge to a deal with a Singapore company to run a strategic port in which China has a substantial investment.

The chief minister of Baluchistan, the southwestern province where Gwadar port is located, is seeking the cancellation of the contract with Singapore state-owned PSA International Ltd on the grounds that it is a “one-sided” deal.

“In the contract, the federal government did not consider the reservations of the Baluchistan government, nor were we taken into confidence,” advocate general Salahuddin Mengal, who represents the Baluchistan government, told the court.

“We ask the court to order the federal government to scrap, cancel the contract.”

Authorities have dismissed speculation that the deep-sea port would be handed to Chinese control, after China provided 80 percent of the initial $248 million development costs.

China helped build the port on Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast partly with a view to opening up an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western China.

Analysts suspect China would push for a major say over the port to back its bid to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean. This would upset India, which has already expressed concern over China’s influence in the region.

Pakistan, struggling to revive its debt-laden economy, is keen to become a conduit for trade to landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia. It has three major ports — Gwadar in Baluchistan and two at Karachi, 450 km (280 miles) to the east.

China and Pakistan call each other “all-weather friends” and their close ties have been underpinned by long-standing wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to hedge against U.S. influence in the region.

China is Pakistan’s main supplier of conventional arms and analysts believe China supported Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme in past decades.

“India wants to tell everybody that China is expanding its tentacles and emerging as a maritime threat but it is the perception which is not shared by any of the regional countries,” said Riffat Hussein, chairman of the department of defence and strategic studies at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. “It’s a highly exaggerated concern.”

Under the Gwadar deal, former President Pervez Musharraf’s government gave management and operational control of the deep-sea port to PSA, owned by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings , in February 2007 for 40 years.

Under the agreement, the Baluchistan government, which has been battling a decades-old low-level revolt by nationalists for provincial autonomy, was to develop a free-zone for warehouses and export processing zone and establish road and rail links.

Baluchistan Chief Minister Mohammad Aslam Raisani has said PSA International Ltd had neither brought in trade nor expanded the port. But there were no plans to hand the port to China.

Pakistan gets only 9 percent of the port’s total revenue.

In September, Pakistan’s naval chief asked the government to review the contract for the same reasons.

Gwadar, 70 km (45 miles) east of the Iranian border and on the doorstep of Gulf shipping lanes, was conceived over a decade ago with hopes it would handle transhipment traffic for the Gulf. – Reuters

 

[Omar1984]

SC stays transfer of Gwadar Port land ​

KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a stay order against the sale of Gwadar Port’s immovable property to private firms till further orders.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ruled that the stay order will remain effective unless the court decides several petitions challenging a contract awarded to operate Gwadar Port.

The court also admitted for hearing a petition filed by the Balochistan government to become a party in this case.

In addition, the apex court expressed its annoyance over the government for acquiring services of private lawyers instead of Attorney General.

Later, the case was put off for three weeks. SAMAA

 

[Mani2020]

What the hell is going-on in this country,everything is getting sell first the gold mines and now gawadar port.the last thing we want from government is to openly sale the civilians .

 

[alibaz]

What the hell is going-on in this country,everything is getting sell first the gold mines and now gawadar port.the last thing we want from government is to openly sale the civilians .

Dagh to achay hotay hain

Dagh to chala jaye ga per yeh waqt phir nahi aye ga

(Pir Murshad Sarkar)

Allah bless us all, may give us sufficient wisdom to chose right rulers for ourselves

 

[Omar1984]

What the hell is going-on in this country,everything is getting sell first the gold mines and now gawadar port.the last thing we want from government is to openly sale the civilians .

It was Musharraf who sold Gwadar Port to Singapore. We are now trying to get the Port back.

 

[Mani2020]

It was Musharraf who sold Gwadar Port to Singapore. We are now trying to get the Port back.

how can he sold a golden sparrow to singapore? was he nuts? for how many dollars he sold it?

 

[ajpirzada]

have u give the promised land and road links to Singapore port authority? if not then who is it we should blame? ourselves......

just saying xyz is stealing our property is not enough. also state what exactly is being stolen.

 

[Omar1984]

Gwadar Port case: SC stays allotment of land to foreign company
​

The Supreme Court has issued a stay order against the allotment of land belonging to the Gwadar Port Trust Authority to a foreign company.


ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has issued a stay order against the allotment of land belonging to the Gwadar Port Trust Authority to a foreign company.

In Wednesday’s hearing, the court directed that the land – measuring 600 square kilometres – must not be transferred to the Singapore Port Authority (SPA) until the final verdict of the case.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing the case regarding alleged corruption in the allotment of Gwadar Port Trust’s land to SPA. Applicant Barrister Zafarullah had said that Gwadar Port’s land has been allotted to SPA and pleaded that a stay order be issued against the allotment.

Abdul Hafiz Pirzada said that the Balochistan government is not satisfied with the allotment of the contract to SPA. “The contract was awarded without the permission of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), which is a violation of the Constitution,” he said.

The federation’s counsel Ramzan Chaudhary assured the court that neither the land was transferred nor will it be transferred. Hearing was then adjourned for three weeks.

The CJP, while expressing dissatisfaction over the government’s expenditure, observed that the court had tried to retrieve each and every penny from the defaulters but the government has no check on the national exchequer.

The court also accepted the Balochistan government’s request against awarding the contract of Gwadar Port to a foreign company.

The court also expressed annoyance over the government’s hiring of private lawyers to represent it in the case instead of hiring the services of the attorney-general of Pakistan (AGP) and directed the AGP to bring the matter into the prime minister’s notice.

Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday remarked that the national exchequer is the nation’s wealth. “It is strange that every government institution hires the services of private lawyers on the public’s expense, which is not desirable,” he said, adding that in the presence of the AGP, what was the need to hire a private lawyer.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2010.
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[maverick1977]

Yes, the new motorway M8 is in progress it will connect to Rato dero in upper sindh. M4 will be complete by the end of 2011 between Multan and Faisalabad, 233kms.

Now to connect Multan to Rato Dero there are two more Motorways. One running from Multan to Dera Ghazi khan 120kms, it is called M5. and then from Dera Ghazi Khan to Rato Dero is called M6.

i am not sure when M8 will be completed, which will be 830kms long running from Gwadar to Turbat to Awami to Khuzdar to Ratodero will be complete. All i can say work is in progress and it might be completed by 2014 or 2015.

Meanwhile, M5 and M6 might start around 2012 after the completion of M4. I am assuming these Motorway projects will be complete by 2015 and we can safely say that from Peshawar to Gawadar all motorways will be open by 2015.

Similarly, China will lay a new track from Gwadar along M8 and N55 which will eventually connect after splitting between and meeting at quetta line and and sindh line. timeline is not available for that line. In the same fashion, Havelia and kashgar pakistan china line which is 750kms line will cost 2.5 to 3.0 billion $. this will be one of the most expensive project but will connect china to Pakistan via rail , hence, increase commerce...

Land trasport will be feasible for running a transit supplies for turkmanestan, uzbekistan and afghanistan. Wheres rail line will be beneficial to china in a big way.