KPT assures KFHA of dredging navigational channel: dispute resolved

A brief disagreement between Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) has finally been resolved as the former has assured the latter of dredging fish harbour's 0.1 million square meter navigational channel without any charges.
Earlier, the KPT had issued a letter to the KFHA quoting $8 per cubic meter charges for the channel's dredging, which created problems for the financially weak authority, as it did not have million of rupees to deepen the mud-heaped harbour's seabed, sources said on Friday.
The KPT's letter also contradicted the Sindh Fisheries Minister's longstanding claims, which said the prime minister had agreed that Karachi fish harbour's navigational channel would be deepened soon after the trust would accomplish its job in Balochistan sea. However, the KPT officials met with the MD KFHA and some other officials and agreed that the trust would do the job without charging a single penny from the authority, the officials said, adding that now the trust would outsource the project.
When contacted the KFHA officials, they said around 0.1 million square meter area of the harbour's channel would be dredged to deepen it by four meters in line with the port dictum. They said the KPT would not use its machinery rather it would outsource the project to deploy relatively smaller dredgers keeping in view the harbour size. "The KPT has big dredgers, which cannot be move around the fish harbour," they pointed out.
They said the KFHA could not do the dredging of fish harbour as it would cost at least Rs 150 million, which is unaffordable for the authority. "KPT is appreciated for helping KFHA financially," they said. The dredging project would be carried out in different phases, as KFHA wanted to manage the movement and parking of the in-out fishing boats.
"We neither want to disturb the seafood landing at the harbour nor the boats movement in the navigational channel," the officials said, adding that harbour would remain operational during the dredging. The last dredging of the fish harbour was done through EU grant by an Italian firm M/s "Lodigiani SPA" in 1990, costing the then currency unit of "ECU" 12 million, according to the officials, "the harbour's dredging should be done once in a year."