ISLAMABAD – Federal government to establish a big ship-breaking yard inGwadar, sources said. Sources in the government said that a policy boardfor the project is being finalised. The board will decide about landallocation and completion of the ship-breaking yard project which isexpected to create enormous employment opportunities.
However, sources were not sure about the fate of Gadani ship breaking yardon the Makran coast which came into being soon after independence ofPakistan in 1947, ranked as third largest ship demolition yard in Asiaamong Alang in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh.
The yard consists of 132 ship-breaking plots[1] located across a 10km longbeachfront at Gadani, Pakistan, about 50 kilometres northwest of Karachi.In the 1980s, Gadani was the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, withmore than 30,000 direct employees.
However, competition from newer facilities in Alang, India and Chittagong,Bangladesh resulted in a significant reduction in output, with Gadani todayproducing less than one fifth of the scrap it produced in the 1980s.
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The recent reduction in taxes on scrap metal has led to a modest resurgenceof output at Gadani, which now employs around 6,000 workers.
More than one million tons of steel is salvaged per year, and much of it issold domestically.
