PAKISTAN'S DEEP SEA CONTAINER TERMINAL TO MAKE KARACHI VITAL HUB
Tuesday November 13, 2007, 4:18 pm
ISLAMABAD, Nov 13 Asia Pulse - Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf says construction of US$1 billion Deep Sea Container Terminal at Karachi would turn Pakistan into a major transhipment hub for regional states, further bolstering the country's trade and commerce.
Speaking after the signing ceremony between Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), at Aiwan-e-Sadr, he said the government has also decided to set up facilities for ship building and repair at Gwadar deep seaport.
The terminal assures minimum royalty payment of US$1.1 billion to KPT over 25 years concession period. Of ten draft berths at 18 meters depth four will be completed by the year 2010. Under public-private partnership Build, Operate, Transfer concession will be for an initial period of 25 years. HPH will be required to develop the site into a full-fledged modern container terminal with capacity of 3.1 M TEUs.
President Musharraf said Pakistan would be one of few countries in the region to provide shipbuilding and repair facilities. The terminal will be able to accommodate some of the largest ships operating. Pakistan serves as hub for trade between Central Asian Republics, Western China, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. "Our strategic location will be used for trade, commerce, which will be beneficial for the country and entire region. We will be on the world map of ship building, repair and deep sea container handling in three to four years time," the President said.
The terminal will be comprised of US$457 million of Foreign Direct Investment and the remaining US$550 million will be provided by KPT to develop infrastructure for Phase-I. The Chairman of KPT Vice Admiral Ahmad Hayat noted that the total expected income stands at US$3.5 billion in same period. He said the first vessel is expected to sail into new terminal by 2010. It will also have a road, rail link with rest of country, including a proposed cargo village. He said Karachi port would be able to handle the longest and deepest vessels that may wish to access the port. In Phase I, the terminal will be able to handle Super Post Panamax Container Ships.
HPH is one of the world's largest container terminal operators and handled 59.1 M TEUs worldwide, of which 13.1 M TEUs were transhipment. It operates 257 berths in 45 ports in 23 countries.
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