GWADAR – Gwadar Port Terminal Expansion Plan 2018-19 envisages increase incargo handling capacity with the inclusion of four berths – dry bulk berth,mineral ore berth, oil handling berth and general cargo berth. Sources saidthat the renovation of existing terminal has been completed and cargohandling capacity of containers increased.
The terminal expansion plan included to built a 150,000 ton dry bulk berthwith the handling capacity of about 10, 000, 00 tons a year, and a200,000-ton ore berth with the handing capacity of about 13,000,000tons/year.
The expansion plan also includes building a 250,000 tons crude oil berthwith the handling capacity of 17,000,000 tons/year and a 70,000 ton generalberth with cargo handling capacity of 20,000,000 tons.
The dry bulk berth is 322m long with 22 hectares of land behind, mineralberth 368m long with 14 hectares of land behind while oil handlingunloading berth is 515m long with 14 hectares of land behind and size ofgeneral berth is 285 m long and 21 hectares of land behind.
Sources said that Gwadar Free Zone had two portions, Southern initial/PilotZone and Northern Main Zone with different sub-zones and free zone pilotdevelopment project is almost completed at an estimated cost of US $160million while an additional investment of US $250 million will be from 5main investors. The construction of four industrial units is about to startwith work on northern main zone.
The PC-1 for construction of Eastbay Expressway was approved by ExecutiveCommittee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) two years ago and physicaland financial progress on the project is around 9 percent.
The project is to be completed by 2020. Cost of the project is Rs 14,061.79million with foreign exchange component Rs 13,542 million. Interest freeloan is to be provided for the project by Chinese government.
The demand for release of Rs 6,487.92 million from the FEC is pending withPlanning Commission. Progress of survey work, geotechnical work and siteestablishment remained slow due to strict security implementation reasons.
Due to remoteness of the project site, the contractor may face problems ingetting local labour, material and equipment etc.Eastbay Expressway Phase-II of Gwadar Port was approved by 5th JointCoordination Committee as Early Harvest Project of China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) at a total estimated cost of Rs 6 billion. The proposedExpressway Phase-II will connect the Eastbay Expressway Phase-I with NewGwadar International Airport.
The PC-II for feasibility study for construction of Phase-II EastbayExpressway was submitted to Planning Commission for approval on November 7,2017, asking that Chinese side may be requested to provide interest freeloan. Approval of the PC-II is still awaited.