The sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs on Friday asked the Gwadar Port Authority to step up arrangements to make Gwadar Port completely operational by October 15 and expedite all the necessary measures in this regard.
The sub-committee met in the chair of Kauda Babar to take stock of the issues related to Gwadar Port
Briefing the sub-committee, Chairman China Overseas Port Holding Company (COPHC) Zang Baozhong said the company had given a grant $1.2 billion for uplifting of parts of Gwadar port.
The FBR officials briefed the sub-committee on the establishment of Transit Trade Directorate at Gwadar Port. The sub-committee was informed that in order to deal with the matter, meetings with the Ministry of Commerce and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) are being held.
The panel was briefed that Gwadar Port was equipped with the facilities that were required to handle variety of shipments. WeBOC transit trade module has been rolled out in Gwadar by PRAL (Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited) and a User Acceptance Test (UAT) will be carried out. Negotiations are being carried out by bonded careers such NLC and Pak-Afghan Cargo Services. A special incentives package has been offered to Afghan Transit Traders, according to the briefing given by the FBR officials.
While discussing tax exemptions pertaining to Gwadar Port and Gwadar Free Zone (GFZ), the sub-committee was informed that the matter is under review at the Ministry of Law and Justice for its recommendations.
The officials of the Ministry of Commerce informed the sub-committee that the ministry was working on a system to direct all Afghan transit trade from Karachi to Gwadar.
Last month, a meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Gwadar, which was held in Islamabad, decided to expedite work on 300 megawatt coal-based power plant in Gwadar.