News
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Balochistan to buy all shares of Gwadar Port* Provincial finance minister says his govt also buying significant number of shares of OGDCL
* Eyes Rs 45billion annual revenue after installation of refinery at Reko DikBy Mohammad Zafar
QUETTA: The Balochistan government is planning to buy all shares of Gwadar Port in order to secure full control of the strategic installation, Finance Minister Asim Kurd said while addressing a post-budget briefing at the Civil Secretariat on Tuesday.
The minister said the government would buy the shares from the Singapore Port Authority and the National Logistics Cell and would also ask the federal government to help Balochistan take full control of the Gwadar deep sea port.
OGDCL: Kurd said that the government had allocated Rs 12 billion for investments in the Saindak and Reko Dik projects and for buying significant shares of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL).
He said the provincial government had established the Balochistan Investment Board for attracting foreign investors and the chief minister would chair the board himself and oversee its operations. “Highly professional people will be recruited to the BIB,” Kurd said.
He said Rs 1 billion had been allocated for the mining industry to build a refinery for separating gold from copper and other metals.
Earning: Kurd said the provincial government could earn as much as Rs 45 billion annually from the project in a few years once it becomes fully functional.
Presently, the minister said the blister copper was being taken to China where it was refined and the government of Balochistan was unaware of how much gold was being produced from Saindak.
He was of the view that by establishing refineries at the metal mining sites at Reko Dik and Saindak projects, the government would provide jobs to hundreds of people. The minister said the biggest achievement of the government was getting the “best NFC Award” that provided a huge sum of resources to the province.
“Earlier, Balochistan was being denied its legitimate share from the divisible pool, as well as the right price of its natural gas,” Kurd added.
With regards to job opportunities, he said all 38,000 applicants would get jobs in due course of time. “It is our responsible to provide jobs to the educated youth in the province,” the minister said to a question.
He said the provincial government would make efforts to provide jobs to 20,000 people during the next financial year with the cooperation of the federal government.
Kurd said Rs 30 million had been allocated for each MPA for their respective development programmes.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk