This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "Of ports and terminals" carried by the newspaper on Sunday. The writer, Ali Khizar, has attempted to highlight the criticality of ports in the economic development of a country. In my view, however, he hasn't delved too deeply into the subject matter. That ports bring varying degrees of benefits to the economy and country is a fact. The problem, however, with the incumbent government is their lack of understanding of the economic challenges. The incumbent minister of maritime affairs is therefore required to undertake, among other things, a critical review of the port sector with a view to rationalizing investment allocations to and within the sector. His ministry is also required to articulate corporate plans for each of the existing ports. Last but not least, it is about time the ministry started work on delineating a long-term plan aimed at addressing future capacity constraints.
The entire Karachi port, for example, needs dredging to facilitate changing trends of deep draught vessels.
Sohail Naqshbandi (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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