Japan to help with Pasni harbour development

KARACHI: Japan would provide dredgers for Pasni Fish Harbour under its general economic development program of Balochistan. This was disclosed by assistant director economic affairs South-West Asia at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Takashi Miyata, in a meeting with diplomats and representatives of multinational companies that was held in Karachi. He said these Dredgers would be provided to the federal government of Pakistan. The Japanese government has also given its final consent to provide $250 million for Pasni Fish Harbour development. “We are now waiting for the PC-1 by the government of Pakistan on this fish harbor project,” he said, adding that the meeting was held in order to asses the economic potential of Balochistan.
He informed that Japan, besides developing Pasni fish harbor, would also improve port facilities, generate water resources, and give technical and financial assistance to the fisheries sector of the province. General economic development of the province, energy and mining sectors’ development is also on Japan’s to-do list, he added. He showed his concerns over the non-functioning of the Gwadar Port and Riko Dek project by saying that government of Pakistan should take effective measures in this regard, otherwise foreign investment in the province would dry up.
Japan has not been convinced, or impressed, by the local ministry to develop the Pasni fish harbor but they have taken the initiative in this project, he added. It is pertinent to mention that Pasni Harbour was built in 1989 with the help of Asian Development Bank and even at that time Japan had given its backing.
The harbor was used to provide berthing/calling facilities to 3,500 vessels of various sizes, but with time its capacity reduced to 20 percent of what it was at its inception. It has been reported earlier that the Pakistani government with the assistance of Japan will do maintenance, dredging, extension, and improvement of the breakwater of the harbor.