Karachi: Federal Minister Maritime Affairs Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh visited PNSC and held various meetings with different stakeholders in order to devise strategy to streamline the process. In the first meeting MNA Qadir Patel was also present with different MPAs along with members of Karachi fisheries to inform the Federal Minister Maritime Affairs of ongoing issues faced by fishermen on daily basis. He was accompanied with Secretary Maritime Affairs Dr. Iram Anjum Khan, MD Korangi Fisheries Admiral Shahid, Collector Customs Omer Shafique, Chairman KPT and other officers from PNSC, KPT and Port Qasim.
The fishermen informed that they are being charged a fee of Rs500 for small boats and Rs5000 for bigger boats in order to get clearance certificate from customs. Collector Customs informed the Federal Minister that “Issuance of clearance certificate” is as per SRO issued in 1983 but no fees or charge is made and no revenue is collected by govt of Pakistan. On this, Federal Minister Maritime Affairs ordered immediate inquiry and recovery from all concerned officers from Pakistan Navy, customs.
Secondly, the issue of traffic congestion was raised by MNA Qadir Patel due to heavy cargo lines near Keamari which has also led to several deaths of emergency patients. On immediate basis, the Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs issued directives to allow heavy transportation on the Lyari Expressway and with the coordination of Sindh Govt to divert all the heavy traffic on right side so that traffic for citizens can flow smoothly on left side.
Haji Shafi Muhammad of Fisheries community raised concern over closure of route between different creeks due to some dredging work carried out. This has stopped passage for small boats which has increased the fuel cost and increased total time by 4-5 hours. The Federal Minister was informed that Port Qasim has already finalized an agreement which will allow small boats complete passage and it will be start functioning in six months.
The Federal minister ordered complete inquiry of particular industries especially located at Port Qasim which are polluting the environment causing poor air quality of Karachi. He was informed Pharma cluster industrial zone and steel manufacturing plant were doing environmental degradation which were sealed for six months.
The second meeting was held with business community and on the question of KGTL unprecedentedly hike of cargo rates without considering all stakeholders the Federal Minister said,” the plans for finalizing uniform rates for shipping lines is already in place”. Members of cement association raised issues 15% charges of KPT. The Minister gave directives of forming board on the lines of Shipping Rates Advisory Board which was previously made but is under litigation as Shipping agents didn’t agree upon it.
The minister said,” I will also look into developing a coherent mechanism of fixing the exorbitant rates of shipping lines which charge different rates at different times”.
Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh thank the participants for bringing issues and entrusting their trust on his leadership. Mr Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh assured the participants that proper mechanisms and streamlining of processes will be done in order to facilitate business community and fishermen so that it leads to positive contribution to Pakistan economy.
