960427

Container terminal

job given to APL

on BOOT basis

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The American President Lines (APL) had been granted the contract to develop container terminal at Karachi Port, on merit, under the BOOT policy and American involvement would not pose any threat to the country's security, said Additional Secretary (Financial Affairs) of the Prime Minister Secretariat, Dr. Waqar Masood, while replying to questions of Probationer officers at the Civil Services Academy, in a seminar on 'Pakistan: Global Investment Prospects' here.

"We have cancelled the contract awarded to the local firm led by an opposition MNA only because it had failed to acquire the financial close within the stipulated time," he said.

"I have not heard about any security threat because of this contract award to APL, and nobody should be worried about this aspect of the contract," Dr. Waqar said, adding that "I don't know how far the Pak Naval base is from this berth."

Elaborating on the speedy grant of contract, he said that the country had been facing problems for want of a container terminal at Karachi.

"We have to bring the containers in small boats from the ships, which increased the input value of imports and exports," he added.

The contract has been awarded on the BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) basis "so, nobody should bother about the security of the country, by the contract," he said.

He clarified that it was not the present government but the previous regime which had reduced the Lahore-Islamabad motorway to four lanes. He said, originally, the Nawaz Sharif government had contemplated to build four lanes motorway which was subsequently promoted to six-lane. This was again curtailed to four lanes by the caretaker government of Moeen Qureshi. But it was the present government who had decided to restore the construction of six lanes, Dr. Masood.

He said the government had introduced a number of structural reforms which would bring stability to the country's economy. He pointed out the private power policy of the present government and termed it "unique and exemplary" for the Third World countries.

About the deteriorating economic situation in the country, he said in the last decade no major project which could contribute to the national exchequer was launched. So the country has been facing a standstill situation as far as the pace of economic development was concerned.

He said though the agriculture sector, the baseline of the country's economy, had been facing hardships, timely repayments of acquired loan had increased the confidence of donors in Pakistan.