ISLAMABAD: Senate’s Standing Committee on Ports and Shipping has expressed concerns over delay in the Gwadar’s development projects and warned of immense losses, if finances were not utilised properly.
The Senate committee met under the chairmanship of Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hassani including members Naseema Ehsan, Nuzhat Sadiq, Kalsoom Parveen, Haji Khan Hafiz Hamdullah, and Minister for Ports and Shipping Kamran Michael to discuss issues relating to development of the Gwadar projects.
The committee expressed displeasure over absence of NHA officials in the meeting and directed to ensure the presence of officials in the next meeting. Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hassani said that all departments are interlinked and without the presence of officials concerned, the progress is being delayed. People expect early completion of the project which is the need of the country and people of Balochistan, he added.
He said that the Pak-China corridor can boost the economy of the country but unfortunately proper attention was not being paid and projects were delayed due to lack of co-ordination. The Chairman of Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) said that project was delayed due to unavailability of electricity equipment and new machinery may become scrap due to its non-functionality. He said that GPA has written letters to Quetta Electric Supply Company to sort out the issues of electricity to port but no attention was paid by the company officials. He said that GPA also has allocated land for construction of grid station in Gwadar.
The committee’s chairman said that seven years ago PSDP approved the development of grid station at Gwadar, but so far no work was carried out there. He said due to lapse of time, the cost of project has also increased. He said that machinery worth millions of dollars was purchased but it could not be used due to unavailability of electricity.
