State of affairs at PQA in a shambles

Port Qasim Authority (PQA), which caters to more than 40% of seaborne trade requirements of Pakistan, appears to be in shambles. The Authority is being run on ad hoc basis as there has been not even a single board meeting during the last six months, according to stakeholders here. It is presently headed by an officer of Pakistan Administrative Service with no prior experience and exposure to marine or port operations. There are many pending issues and decisions which are deliberated upon in the board meetings that are pending at present.
Unfortunately in Pakistan, sources said decisions are often made under political considerations rather than on merit. No one is bothered to even respond to letters of port operators, leave alone organising a board meeting, said a frustrated operator who has a big cargo handling terminal at Port Qasim.
A source at Port Qasim said that the present chairman is observing a go-slow policy on important decisions and seems like waiting for the retirement of an important personality in the coming months. He said that the current PQA Chairman, Agha Jan Akhtar, is amongst the list of officers whose appointees were challenged in the Supreme Court, which in a recent judgement had declared promotions of 80 civil servants void and ordered the government to undertake an exercise to outline the objective criteria for promotions to make the civil servants honest officers free of political pressure.
The Supreme Court had also served a notice regarding alleged illegal appointments in the authority during the last two years. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, had announced the reserved judgement in the civil servants promotion case. The court had also expressed displeasure over illegal inductions of 481 people in PQA even after an order of the apex court on January 11, 2011.
An officer of Pakistan Administrative Service, Agha Jan Akhtar worked as Secretary Agriculture, Government of Sindh. He has also served as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Sindh and has also worked in various assignments in the Home Department. Historically officials coming with Marine or Port Operations experience were chosen for this important slot of Chairman PQA but Ministry of Ports & Shipping is paying no attention to this important issue.
"There is no Director General Operations at Port Qasim Authority at the moment, leaving the port operators guessing as to how affairs are being run at Port Qasim Authority these days. DG Operations is overall in charge of all important day to day affairs as well as acts like a liaison between terminals and the PQA," said a frustrated port operator.
Regulators are inactive and indecisive and important decisions are pending. Under this situation how you could expect operations to run smoothly at PQA, replied an operator when asked to comment on the current state of affairs at PQA. There are several important senior Government officials who faced Supreme Court decision and they are reluctant to take important decisions at their respective organisations.
Port Qasim Authority was established through an act of parliament on June 29, 1973. It is the 2nd deep sea industrial-cum-commercial port operating under landlord concept. The Port is situated in Indus delta region at a distance of 28 nautical miles in the south-east of Karachi. PQA is the most eco-friendly port and is geographically located on the trade route of Arabian Gulf. It currently caters for more than 40% of seaborne trade requirements of the country.
The Port is under the administrative control of Ministry of Ports & Shipping, Government of Pakistan. Chairman is the chief executive of the port. All policy decisions are vested in PQA Board comprising seven members headed by Chairman, PQA. The Board is blend of public and private sector participation. The PQA provides shore based facilities and services to international shipping lines and other agencies concerned in the form of adequate water depth in the channel, berths/terminals, cargo handling equipment, go downs, storage areas and providing facilities for safe day and night transit of vessels.