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Inexplicable delays mar Pakistan's first deepwater container terminal

THE South Asia Pakistan Terminal (SAPT), which was supposed to double the country's container capacity, has suffered bureaucratic delays that have kept from full development since the 1970s.

With SAPT now set to start operations August 13, trucks with tonnes of cargo must face dilapidated access roads, reports Pakistan Today.

Even now, gridlock lasts three to four hours and causes loss of precious labour hours, on a project owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH).

Dredging to 15 metres has yet to be done. That, together with the lack of road access is of concern to investors who want action on a project that was supposed to be operational in 2010.

"The company has paid PKR2 billion (US$19.1 million) in import duties alone for five ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, which haven't earned them a penny yet," an official said.

As per the agreement signed in 2007, the project is a joint venture of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and HPH, which has invested US$600 million to develop the first phase while KPT has another $800 million in infrastructure.

Spread over 85 hectares, the terminal is designed to accommodate 20,000-TEU ships with 16 metres alongside at full build out.

But the dredging of the channel leading to the harbour is only 55 per cent done and the channel still has patches of nine and 10 metres, sources said.

The delay was due to some technical approvals that had to be sought from various government departments, KPT's public relations officer said."KPT has to follow all government rules and regulations," he said.

Getting clearance from the traffic police was the main reason for delay in work on the road, he said adding the matter stands resolved now and they have already initiated the process to construct the road from SAPT to Gulbai Bridge and it will be ready before the project's launch date.