Gwadar can not operate in Air

Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Qamar Zaman Kaira has serious reservations over the contract of the Gwadar Port and he will conduct an indepth study in this regard.
In a statement telecast by Pakistan's national television channel, the minister said that the operational contract of the port was very surprising as the government would get only 9 per cent of the gross revenue of this project.
He said that in return the government will provide entire linkage infrastructure and would also pay the price of land for free processing industrial zone.
Lately, he had disclosed that there were no roads or railways linkage infrastructure available to connect the port with other parts of the country .
The minister was reported as saying that 'Gwadar port cannot operate in the air'.
Since the completion of construction work by the Chinese companies, only one ship carrying wheat cargo has so far landed at the port, the minister says .
He said a portion of the wheat was unloaded at Gwadar while the rest of the stock was unloaded at Port Qasim.
He said the wheat that was unloaded at Gwadar had to be shifted to Karachi for onward transportation to the country.
The minister said that Chinese companies invested above $ 250 million on the project and they had efficiently completed the task which they were supposed to but unfortunately the port could not be made operational in the absence of rail/road linkage and operational facilities.
The Pakistan Navy and the provincial government are demanding an amount of around Rs. 13 billion for the land where free processing industrial zone would be set up , the minister said.
So far, this land has not been acquired, he informed.