KARACHI, Nov 3: The government has asked the four pre-qualified port operators to submit their bids by December 4 so that the handing over of Gwadar Port operations is finalised by the policy board headed by the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz before the end of current year.

The Gwadar Port Implementation Authority (GPIA) had invited Expressions of Interest (EoIs) on October 16 and in short period of four days (on October 21) approved four companies out of total eight companies who had submitted EoIs.

The tender committee headed by Farooq Rehmatullah in consultation with Arther D. Little (ADL), consultant for Gwadar Port, after evaluation short listed these companies and only selected those which had fulfilled their criteria.

These companies are: PSA International, Singapore; Globe Marine Services, Saudi Arabia; Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT), Karachi; and Westport, Malaysia.

It is interesting that the Gwadar Port, which has been victim of lethargy and non-professional approach, has suddenly taken up the pace and if things keep moving at this momentum it is hoped that before the close of current year some activity could be witnessed at the port, ports and shipping experts said.

According to bid documents of pre-qualified companies, PSA International, Singapore has the experience of handling up to 40 million containers and is presently operating at Singapore, Belgium and is also moving to India. Westport of Malaysia has experience and capacity of handing 3.7 million TEUs.

The PICT presently operating at Karachi port and is fully owned by a local company is handling up to 0.43 million TEUs and Globe Marine Service of Saudi Arabia is well-experienced in Container Freight Services (CFS) and has the biggest logistic chain as well as shipping agents of Saudi Arabia.

However, after getting pre-qualified all the four companies submitted Request for Proposal (RFP) with the Ministry of Ports and Shipping. Consequently, a pre-bid conference was arranged by the acting chairman GPIA and Director General

Ports and Shipping Captain Anwar Shah on Friday at a local hotel.

The pre-qualified companies will have to submit their bids by December 4, 2006, and the tender committee has been directed by the acting chairman GPIA to give its decision by December 10, to submit the bids with the Ministry of Ports and Shipping in order to get final nod from the policy board.

It is expected that signing of agreement for the concession with the successful bidder will be finalised before the close of current calendar year.

All the four pre-qualified port operators attended the pre-bid conference and in a welcome address by the chairman tender committee of Gwadar Port,

Farooq Rehmatullah, it was made clear that the government intended to move on a fast track.

He also introduced the newly-appointed acting chairman of GPIA Captain Anwar Shah.

In the past the government fixed two dates for inauguration of the strategic Gwadar Port but could not meet them and this was largely because most of the affairs of the port were run by non-professionals.

Inaugurating the pre-bid conference the acting chairman GPIA informed the participants that the awarding of the concession was in final stages and the government equally welcomed foreign and local investment in ports and shipping sector.

Capt Anwar said that the GPIA in consultation with the ADL had developed a new vision under which ‘Revenue Sharing Model’ had been conceived. “We did not replicate the Karachi Port and Port Qasim methods for awarding the port and terminal operations but a unique blend has been created to suit both sides,” he asserted.

He further said it would be 40 years lease on BOT (Built Operate and Transfer) basis and three companies would have to be set up to run different operations -- port and terminal operations, marine services and free economic zone.

He informed the participants that the prime minister was taking personal interest in accelerating the process of developing North-South trade corridor in order to meet the land-locked countries of the region.