The one-sided agreement regarding Fauji Akbar Portia Marine Terminals (FAP) has made Port Qasim Authority (PQA) lose half of its business and operations, sources informed Pakistan Today.
It has been learnt that all four berths at Marginal Wharf of Port Qasim have witnessed 50 per cent reduction in cargo handling due to diversion of cargo to FAP terminals and bulk cargo, including wheat, rice, fertilizer, grain etc. are being handled now at FAP terminal, resulting in huge financial losses to PQA.
Sources informed that the agreement with PQA in this regard signed some four or five years back is one-sided and beneficial to FAP and this has resulted in operational and financial losses to PQA. A large number of laborers have also lost their work, creating fuss for the management of both the ports.
“This loss is in millions, a perfect example of doing harm to one national asset and benefiting the other, and this has probably happened due to complete ignorance of legal aspects of the agreement by concerned authorities at the time,” sources added. Though the FAP pays a percentage of royalty to PQA in terms of diversion of cargo that is quite insufficient considering the loss the port is incurring since December last, sources added. Also, some times the cargo is diverted to Karachi Port Trust, which is another loss to PQA, sources added.
Labor at Port Qasim retaliated by halting operations completely at PQA since the inception of the FAP terminal because they did not have any work. The FAP terminal management does not accommodate them in any capacity, sources added. “This agreement should be revised, or at least a mandatory clause must be included in the agreement that the cargo be diverted to FAP only after the complete utilization of PQA berths, while the labor should also be accommodated by FAP in case of diversions of cargo,” sources added.
When contacted, Chairman PQA Adm (Retd) Muhammad Shafi denied any operational and financial loss to the Marginal Wharfs of the port and said the royalty they receive from FAP in terms of diversion of cargo is more than the income of Marginal Wharfs. “Even if we don’t receive any cargo at our Marginal Wharf, the royalty of FAP suffices,” he added. He further said that this agreement is fine and it is not wise to say that this agreement is one-sided.
He informed that PQA is not incurring any loss and is receiving cargo like cement, fertilizer, wheat, rice, etc. at its Marginal Wharf. The Fertilizer and Grain Terminal (FGT) was recently developed on a built-operate-transfer basis in a joint investment venture by the Fauji Foundation’s FAP and National Bank of Pakistan at a cost of $135 million (Rs10 billion) and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in October 2010.
The bulk dry cargo terminal was developed by the FAP in a short span of 24 months and was envisaged to help the cash-strapped government save billions – at least Rs6 billion annually on account of logistics costs.
PQA allegedly losing business due to FAP
