A 30-member high level delegation led by Federal Minister for Roads and Urbanization of Iran Abbas Akhundi visited Karachi Port Trust (KPT) on Thursday to explore avenues available under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) regime in Pakistan.
The delegation was warmly received by chairman KPT at the KPT Head Office. The delegation took keen interest in the deepwater container port project of KPT along with other future projects like multipurpose bulk terminal, Cargo Village, LNG Terminal, Port Elevated Expressway, etc during the briefing given by the Chairman KPT Rear Admiral Jamil Akhtar.
The delegation was briefed about KPT infrastructure, the overall set up and the ensuing discussion specially focused on the avenues of investments available to private sector in Pakistan marine sector. The chairman KPT also highlighted the port expansion programme taking place under the 10-Year Karachi Port Improvement Programme while briefing and discussing the investment opportunities with the Iranian minister.
The delegation complimented the development work and offered to change and to join hands for an interconnection linkage of KPT and Bandar Abbas. The Iranian minister showed interest in development of tourism between the two brotherly nations for ziyarat aspirants. Abbas Akhundi also showed interest in transshipment cargo handling and in this regard he said that ample space of 204,000 hectares is available in Bandar Abbas along with a railway network of 600km.
The chairman KPT also took the delegation to witness the Control Room operations of the South Asia Pakistan Terminal Limited (SAPTL) at the Deepwater Container Port site. Additionally, the delegation was further briefed about the operational and administrative setup of SAPTL.-PR