Musharraf to inaugurate Gwadar Port next Month
By Samina Qureshi 'Pakistan Times' Sindh Bureau Chief

KARACHI: Pakistan plans in March to inaugurate a new port, built with Chinese help and to be operated by Singapore's PSA International, at Gwadar, in the province of Balochistan.

Pakistan has grand plans to turn the port into a major energy and container transport hub to open up trade routes with Central Asia.

"President Pervez Musharraf will inaugurate Gwadar port in the third week of March on 22 or 24," Babar Khan Ghauri, Minister for Ports and Shipping, told a news conference on Saturday.

A formal agreement with PSA International, owned by Singapore government investment holding Temasek, for handling port operations will be signed on Tuesday.

In December, a consortium led by PSA won the contract to operate the deep-sea port on the Arabian Sea, about 450 km (280miles) west of the city of Karachi and about 70 km (45 miles) east of the Iranian border.

Under the agreement, PSA will run the port for 40 years, during which time it will be exempted from corporate tax, Ghauri said.

"Also, no duty will be imposed on any equipment and machinery imported to develop the port during this period," he said.

PSA has envisaged investing $3 billion in the project, of which $550 million would be invested in the first five years.

Pakistan's AKD Group is part of the Singaporean consortium.●