QUETTA Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Khan Raisani has said that people of Balochistan in general and those of Gwadar in particular have pinned lots of hopes on the country's first deep sea port. He said this while attending a meeting held on Wednesday to discuss problems being faced in the operation of the Gwadar port. Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri, federal Minister for Communications Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan and provincial Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd Gailu were present on the occasion.
Mr Raisani said that so long as the port's facilities remained under-utilised desired economic results would be difficult to achieve.
He said keeping in view the fishing community's woes the provincial government had prepared a plan to build two alternative fish harbours, one each at Sur-Bandar and Pishukan. He said PC1s of these projects had been sent to the Planning Commission for approval.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the performance of Port of Singapore Authority, the firm that has been leased out the Gwadar port for 40 years, Mr Raisani said the Balochistan government had reservations on the contract awarded by the Musharraf government.
“The Balochistan government would like to run the port itself,” the chief minister said. The federal minister for ports and shipping said that his ministry had no objection to the suggestion.
