ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, on Thursday, said that the Gwadar Airport was being constructed at a cost of $260 million with full grant from the Chinese government.
He said that Gwadar Airport would be of international standards capable of handling the largest of passenger planes, including the A380 Boeing Jet.
Speaking in a meeting of the parliamentary committee here, he said that the Chinese government had given a grant of $10 million for building the Pakistan-China Vocational & Technical Training Institute which would be helping in training and employment of the local population of Gwadar.
Since it was his first appearance as the federal minister before the committee meeting, therefore, all the committee members congratulated him on his assuming the office of minister for ports and shipping and expressed the hope that under his leadership, the Gwadar Port project would take off in the near future. He gave a comprehensive update and briefing on the development work pertaining to Gwadar port.
Minister said that the water problem of Gwadar was being sorted out with the construction of Sawad dam where water would be provided to Gwadar through a 83 km pipeline and the water shortage of Gwadar would be resolved in that manner.
While briefing about various financial incentives announced for potential investors in the Special Economic Zone of Gwadar, he said that these incentives had attracted investors because both domestic and foreign investors had increased their interest for investment in these Special Economic Zone.
“With these new incentives, the Gwadar port has also being activated and 3 new ships will arrive from China, bringing construction material will arrive in July 2016” he maintained.
Regarding the provision of electricity for Gwadar, he informed the Committee that an additional 100 MG of electricity would be available for Gwadar by the end of 2017 as a result of an agreement with an Iranian company.
