LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik signed the MoU on behalf of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry while Korea Railroad Corporation (KoRail) was represented by Mr. Han Kwang Scok, General Manager Overseas Railways Business Department, and Mr. Kim Dong IL, CEO, PAKOR Global Private Ltd.
LCCI Senior Vice President Sheikh Mohammad Arshad and a large number of Executive Committee Members were also present in the MoU signing ceremony.
As per the MOU, the Korea Railroad Corporation will facilitate the Sheikhupura Dry port Trust to acquire four locomotives for operating first-ever private sector freight train operators for cost-effective and timely transportation of commercial and industrial cargo.
The initiative will open new opportunities for private investment in trade related infrastructure considered vital for economic competitiveness in the prevalent global market place.
Speaking on the occasion, Shahzad Ali Malik said that the sole objective of having another Dry Port was to make the trade and industry competitive by reducing delivery time and cost.
He said that the project was well on way and it would be a fully equipped, state-of-art Dry Port that would be ensuring cost-effective and efficient logistic solutions to promote economic activities in the region.
The LCCI President said that successful models of private sector-managed Dry Port already existed in the shape of Faisalabad Dry Port and Sialkot Dry Port.
He informed the participants that Faisalabad Dry Port has a capacity to handle 33,000 export cargo containers and 5,500 import consignments per annum, valued over Rs 80 billion while the Sialkot Dry Port can handle up to 29,000 export cargo containers worth over Rs 46 billion.
Malik said that the proposed Sheikhupura Dry Port would be catering to trade and industry in Lahore, Sheikhupura and Gujranwala.
He said that Korea Railroad Corporation (KoRail) was planning to start a large full fledged freight and passenger service in future. This project will prove to be curtain-raiser to the private sector-led expansion of rail network in Pakistan and beyond, especially linking the country with Iran, Turkey and through Europe, he added.
He said that the strategic value of this project could be gauged by the fact that it might be instrumental in paving the way for the regional trade corridor.