Karachi: The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) of Hong Kong are to sign a concession agreement today for setting up a one-billion dollar deep water container port, the first in Pakistan.
KPT will invest 450 million dollars for infrastructure development for the project, which is a public-private partnership venture. HPH will invest 557 million dollars.
KPT's investment will be paid back in six years. Based on a projected business plan, KPT expects to receive 3.5 billion dollars during the tenure of the concession.
The contract guarantees an income of 1.14 billion dollars to KPT over 25 years irrespective of the quantum of through-put container traffic, said a statement from the port trust.
In the first phase, a 1500-metre quay wall is being built to establish Pakistan's first deep water container terminal with a designed depth of 18 metres.
The concession was awarded on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis for an initial lease of 25 years. The terminal will be capable of receiving and handling super post-panamax container ships with an annual throughput capacity of 3.1 million TEUs.
KPT plans to hand over the first berth to HPH by 2009 and the subsequent berths at fixed intervals. The first ship is planned to arrive at the new terminal by 2010. [08/11/07]
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