Secretary Ministry of Ports and Shipping Muhammad Saleem Khan on Tuesday said that Pakistan would soon be able to export fisheries products to European Union. He said that around 16,000 to 17,000 fishermen have been registered with the authorities but over 12,000 were functional in real terms for the fish business across the country. According to the secretary, Pakistan was also exporting fisheries products to Egypt and other countries.
He said performance of the Desalination Plant for Gwadar Fish Harbour/Mini Port (GFH) has been affected due to the power shortage. Giving briefing to Special Sub-Committee-III of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), he said Desalination Plant was established at a cost of Rs100 million and it was functional since January, 2005. The main purpose of this project he said was the supply of fresh water – 50,000 to 70,000 gallons per day – to fishermen and for ice factories etc. Saleem said that being the first successful sea water reverse osmosis desalination plant, it provided relief to the residents of Gwadar during periods when there was acute shortage of water. He said that PQA has already filed recovery suits in Sindh High Court for the recovery of PQA’s dues and charges from 25 allottees of land and proceedings of the suits are being pursued vigorously by PQA.
As a result 5 cases out of 25 were decided in favour of authority recently. The Secretary informed the committee that Pakistan would export fish to European countries and criticised delay in constructing the road of 650 km from Gwadar to Ratodero.
