KARACHI: Pakistan Ports Master Plan (PMP), a 30 million dollar study funded by World Bank, would not bear any fruit, a former committee member of the plan on the condition of anonymity told Pakistan Today. He stated that each port had its own development plan on which millions had been spent.
He disclosed that the expensive, confidential and difficult parts of the study like surveys are conducted by the Pakistani port authorities, which meant that very little was left for foreign consultant firms to do in this regard.
It is inexplicable that the governments wants to take help from foreign consultant firms as they would simply copy reports conducted by Pakistani port authorities.
He grieved that those foreign consultants would charge hefty amounts for no effort. In addition, there is no guarantee that the report would be implemented. A note of dissent has also been submitted by one of the members, yet that went unheard as the Ministry of Ports and Shipping Secretary fully supports the idea of this study for reasons best known to him, he added. The authorities should look to build link roads and other development works at the Gwadar port rather than wasting money on this study, he informed.
A maritime expert and a member of the board of governors of the World Maritime University Sweden Captain Anwar Shah told Pakistan Today that ‘There has been no official announcement of the Port Masters Plan and it must be clearly understood that the funding is not a grant, but has to be paid back.’ He said that the Port Master Plan (PMP) is being devised to optimise port development requirements and to identify short-term (2011 to 2015) and long-term (2015 to 2030) operational requirements, port infrastructure facilities and setting up of indicative project investment programmes. When contacted, the Ports and Shipping Director General Hassan Zaidi said that this matter lies under the discretion of the Planning Commission.
According to details provided by the World Bank, the said that the study is financed under the Second Trade and Transport Facilitation Project, while the procurement is still in process. The technical and financial evaluation has been completed and contract negotiations will be undertaken soon between Government of Pakistan and the highest ranked consultant firm, informed World Bank Senior External Affairs Officer Shahzad Sharjeel, in a personal communication with Pakistan Today.
