* Senate body concerned over slow pace of work
* Questions land allotment to housing societies despite cabinet’s decision to halt such allotments
* Told that port will be connected to Iran via road network by December
By Irfan Ghauri
ISLAMABAD: The federal government needs more land to construct facilities for the Gwadar port project, Senate Standing Committee on Ports and Shipping Chairman Senator Gulshan Saeed said on Monday.
Presiding over a meeting of the committee, Gulshan said the government would negotiate with the Balochistan government and private landowners of the area to acquire land.
The committee expressed its concerns over the slow pace of work on the Gwadar port project and the under-construction highways to connect various cities to the port.
She said the committee stressed the government to make the port operational to an extent it could be used as transit port for large ships.
She said Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Qamar Zaman Kaira had told the committee that the government was taking steps to make the port operational by the end of this year and that the next meeting of the Economic Co-ordination Committee was being convened at Gwadar to make “on-spot” decisions to resolve all outstanding issues.
She said the minister would also discuss the issues raised in the committee with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in a meeting.
Housing societies: The committee also expressed concerns over the allotment of land to housing societies despite the federal cabinet’s decision that land would not be given to any other party because a sizeable land was required for the port.
It was pointed out in the meeting the targets set forth by the National Highway Authority (NHA) were difficult to meet as one of major contractors was not performing well. Committee members suggested the contractor should be blacklisted and a penalty should be imposed on him, otherwise it would give an impression that the NHA was protecting the defaulting contractor.
The committee members said the NHA should expedite and improve the quality of work on various roads, especially the Sehwan Sharif-Rato Dero Road.
Iran: The committee was told that the port would be connected to Iran by December 2008. The Ministry of Ports and Shipping secretary informed the committee that the last ECC meeting had decided that all imported wheat would be routed through Gwadar port to give a boost to operational activities at the port.
A Pakistan Railways (PR) representative told the committee that the PR, in consultation with the Balochistan government, had finalised the route between Gwadar and Mastung, besides completing the survey of the 900-kilometre area.
The PR told the committee that Rs 450 million had been deposited with the Quetta Board of Revenue against the demand of Rs 465 million as the price of land to be acquired in the Gwadar city.
The committee was informed that the Gwadar Development Authority wanted an underground electricity supply system instead of an overhead system, which would increase the project cost manifold.
The committee members said the matter should be resolved in the next ECC meeting.
Concerning the provision of potable water, the committee was told that a Chinese firm had installed a desalination plant with a capacity of 100,000 gallons per day. The firm had been given the final payment and the plant would be operational within two months, the committee was told.
The committee also suggested efforts be made to get water from nearby dams such as Shadi Kol and Basole.
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