January 2016 to August 2017: KPT, PQA, GPA collectively earned Rs 36 billion, NA informed

Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) collectively earned Rs 36 billion from January 2016 to August 2017 in terms of cargo handling, cargo storage and other related affairs. Minister for Ports and Shipping Mir Hasil Bizenjo informed this to National Assembly on Thursday during the question-hour. In a written response to a question asked by MNA Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan, the minister said that the KPT earned Rs 29.04 billion, PQA earned Rs 6.9 billion and GPA earned Rs 2.78 million during the period.
According to the details, the KPT earned total Rs 12.3 billion including Rs 7 billion from January 2016 to December 2016 and Rs 5.2 billion from January 2017 to August 2017 in terms of cargo handling; Rs 3.7 billion including Rs 1.9 billion and Rs 1.86 billion respectively in terms of cargo storage; Rs 10.1 billion including Rs 5.9 billion and Rs 4.2 billion in terms of ship movement and services; Rs 2.6 billion including Rs 1.5 billion and Rs 1.1 billion in terms of property management and Rs 473.89 million including Rs 297.7 million and Rs 176.18 million in terms of miscellaneous respectively during the same period.
The Port Qasim Authority's net surplus was recorded Rs 6.9 billion out of Rs 25.6 billion total revenue from January 2016 to August 2017. During the same period, the income of the PQA from industrial estate was Rs 5.56 billion; financial income Rs 1.8 billion; total expenditure Rs 14.7 billion; profit/(loss) before tax Rs 10.9 billion and provision for tax Rs 4 billion.
The Gwadar Port Authority earned Rs 2.78 million from port operations during the period of January 2016 to November 2017. To another question, Minister for Water Resources Syed Javed Ali Shah informed the House that construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam could not be started as yet due to no arrangement of finances. However, land acquisition, construction of infrastructure/preliminary works, ie. project colony at Thor Valley, Composite Model Village­II at Harpan Das are in process, he said. He said that in order to prepare financing strategy for the project, a committee has been constituted by Ministry of Water and Power, which will submit its recommendations to the Cabinet Committee on Energy for approval.
To another question, the minister informed the House that due to increase in cost of Neelum-Jhelum Hydro Power Plant/Project with the passage of time, the financial close is still not achieved despite the latest arrangement of funds of Sukuk of Rs 100 billion and Exim Bank loan of US $576 million by the government.
The minister said that it is a fact that non-availability of timely funds remained major cause for delay in commencement and completion of Neelum-Jhelum Hydro Electric Plant.
The project commencement was delayed to late 2008 though without financial close due to non-availability of funds, he said, adding that WAPDA commenced work on the project after provision of Rs 5.2 billion Cash Development Loan with an arrangement of Neelum-Jhelum Surcharge from the government. He said the government proceeded on arranging foreign and local loans from December 2009 to December 2016, but no lender was ready to finance NJHEP except the Middle Eastern lenders.
Later, with the concerted efforts of Economic Affairs Division, Exim Bank China also agreed initially with financing of US $ 448 million in January 2014 and subsequently second loan of the US $ 576 million in February 2017, he said.
The pace of work thus remained slow on the project due to non-provision of funds in a timely manner, he said, adding that nobody can be held responsible as the government, Wapda and NJHPC made their best efforts for arrangement of funds from different quarters for the project.