KARACHI – The draft of the revised maritime policy is under discussion at the National Maritime Affairs Coordination Committee (NMACC), and expected to receive approval from the committee in the next meeting to be held in the end of March.
The revised national maritime policy will append new aspects and the figures quoted in the last policy have been removed, while the ministries will have greater flexibility through implementation guidelines in it. The revised policy will introduce several new aspects, sources said, adding that the road map to achieve up to 40 percent cargo given in the 2002 maritime policy was not a suitable framework for the national shipping sector.
Moreover in the previous policy there were directives given to achieve certain targets for individual ministries and this was apparently unfeasible, sources added. They indicated that the revised policy has introduced the factor of the market forces should be introduced in the policy for the national shipping sector and this important factor would give a sense of direction to the policy.
The policy draft is pending for approval from the committee before it can be transferred to the Cabinet Division for final approval. In the last meeting of NMACC held on January 5, 2011, the policy did not receive approval as it was the last item of the agenda, so the committee decided to adjourn it till the next meeting to be held in the end of March.
It is pertinent to mention that NMACC was constituted in 1986 for the consideration of maritime related issues.
