News
Thursday, September 12, 2013
600 ‘ghost employees’ found in Ports, Shipping Ministry* Minister says Pakistan lost 86 ships in previous governments
* Committee to start inquiry into missing US containers
By Kashif Hussain
LAHORE: The Ports and Shipping Ministry, after finding around 600 ‘ghost employees’, has planned to introduce a biometric system in the department to curtail its financial burden, Federal Minister Senator Kamran Michael told journalists on Wednesday.
Addressing a ‘Meet the Press’ programme arranged by the Lahore Press Club here, he answered several queries and informed the media about future plans of the government regarding his department. He said some time back, Pakistan had 86 ships but with the passage of time, only three oil tankers and seven bulk-ships were left behind.
He said his government had constituted a special committee to probe the missing US containers from the ports. He endorsed a statement of the US ambassador that no container shipping weapons was missing from Pakistani ports.
He said his ministry was going to introduce an IT Data Centre with tracking system to safeguard containers in future.
Talking about the progress and the future planning of the ministry, he said a ban imposed on the Pakistani fishing industry to export goods to the European Union for the last 12 years, had now been lifted by the efforts of his government.
He said they had planned to launch a project for running passenger ferries among different ports, especially from Karachi, Bin Qasim and Gwadar, while the government was going to provide equipped fibre boats to fishermen of Gwadar. For the purpose, negotiations were underway between Holland and Pakistan.
The minister said Pakistan had conducted successful negotiations with Belgium to get facilities like ice-storage, warehouse and modern international packing system for exports and a written agreement would be reached soon.
He said the Belgium government had agreed to provide technical training to officers of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.
He said the government had started efforts to upgrade the Marine Academy as a university and for the purpose negotiations with different countries were in process. He said the government was also considering a project to construct Budhu Bandal Ireland.
Talking about the shipping industry and its issues, he said nowadays, Pakistan had only three oil tankers and seven bulk-ships that were not fulfilling the requirements of the country. For getting new ships, fresh tenders would be issued this month. He informed that they had conducted talks with the government of Sri Lanka for a joint venture to use Pakistani oil tankers for trade.
For the betterment of the Pakistani ship-breaking industry, he said the ministry planned to boost it and had allocated 170 acres at Port Qasim and its inauguration ceremony would be held soon.
Answering a question about the affiliation of ‘ghost employees’ to any political party, he said he could not identify any person as a political worker but it was a fact that in the past, many people were inducted in the department and had been getting salaries without doing any jobs.
Lahore Press Club President Arshad Insari, Secretary Mian Shahbaz and other office-bearers were present on the occasion.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk