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Old Thursday, April 27, 2006
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Post Physical & Social Infrastructure

1. Road
2. Ports
3. Shipping
4. Air Transport
5. Railways

PHYSICAL & SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE
1. ROADS
The total length of roads in Pakistan is approximately 205,304 kilometers including 6,600 kilometers of eight inter-provincial roads, called the National Highways.
An investment of about Rs. 100 billion is being earmarked for improvement of the existing road and construction of new highways and motorways. Two major projects of rehabilitating, upgrading and modernizing the highways are already under execution. The work on the 1,200 kilometers long Indus Highway Project has started with OECF assistance. Five contracts have already been awarded to international construction companies and the work is in progress. It is expected to be completed in the next two years. The Indus Highway, an alternate North-South route on the west bank of river Indus, links Karachi and Peshawar through some less developed areas of the country.
The work on the dualization of 1,762 kilometers long N-5, historical highway linking Karachi through Peshawar is in progress. The 300 kilometers long section has already been dualized whereas work is in progress on another 600 kilometers. The contracts for the remaining length of the roads have either been awarded or are being processed.
The construction of Pakistan Motorway connecting northern and southern parts of the country with a link at Gawardar has been initiated. In the first phase of the project, Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (length of 339 kilometers) has been constructed with the assistance of a South Korean firm at a cost of US$ one billion. Along this motorway, industrial estates of 800 to 1,000 hectors at or near the interchanges are proposed to be developed. A dual carriageway is being constructed from Peshawar to Afghanistan border which would allow safe and fast flow of traffic from the sea-ports of Karachi and
Gawader to the Central Asia.
2. PORTS
Pakistan has four ports viz, Karachi, Port Mohammad Bin Qasim, Gawadar and Pasni. Karachi and Port Qasim are the major ports with cargo handling capacities of 16.1 and 6.2 million tones respectively, while the other two ports are being developed fast.
Karachi Port Modernization Project is being implemented to expand and further improve the facilities. The container and bulk fertilizer terminals are being expanded and the container terminal is being equipped with rail mounted ship-to-shore third generation gantry cranes, backed up with Mobil equipment and other infrastructure. Moreover, an LPG terminal, at a cost of US$ 30 Million, is to be completed through foreign investment. computerization and reconstruction of berth numbers 5 to 8 have already been completed. The development of Port Qasim, beside the extension of other facilities, includes construction of a bulk oil terminal at a cost of US$ 80 million in collaboration with a Japanese firm. Construction of a fertilizer terminal, grain terminal and LPG terminal are to be offered to the private sector. The operations at both the ports are being privatized.
Gawadar Port is being developed as the third major port which would serve as the gateway to the central Asian republics. The port is being linked with the motorway passing through the entire region.
3. SHIPPING
In 1971 the government nationalized the shipping industry, and merged all the shipping lines under the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC). Later, PNSC went to the public sector also, with 90.2% government - owned enterprises ownership and 4.9% private sector ownership. PNSC has fleet of 22 vessels audits subsidiary the National Tanker Company, owns only one tanker.
The Government has issued 35 licenses to private sector companies, but so far only two companies, the Tristar Shipping and the Milwalla shipping have been set-up. Tristar Shipping Company has only one tanker, while Milwalla shipping Company has only one small vessel. Although there are only two companies under the Pakistan national flag in the private sector, a number of companies are operating under a flag of their own convenience.
The Pakistani shipping industry is dominated by the foreign shipping lines. Due to smaller size and inadequate capacity, the national fleet is presently lifting approximately 10 percent of the dry cargo and 25 percent of the liquid bulk cargo. Consequently, Pakistan is loosing approximately US$ 700 million as freight charges being paid to the foreign shipping companies.
4. AIR TRANSPORT
Pakistan is linked to almost all the countries of the world through the five international airports: Karachi; Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta. Karachi which is known as the gateway to Asia, has the world’s newest and the most modern airport. The national airline, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), now services 90 cities in 46 countries in the four continents. It also sevens over 36 cities within Pakistan. Until 1992, the airline industry was a monopoly of PIA. However, with deregulation of air traffic, domestic airlines in the private sector namely Aero Asia, Bhoja Airline and Shaheen Airline are in operation.
Karachi airport now has the best duty-free shop, Aer Rianta, east of Dubai, with "Display Center" spread over a 17,000 square feet area. The owner of the shop, Mel Sextion, is determined to make it as one of the best and the cheapest duty free shop.
5. RAILWAY
Pakistan has an elaborate network of railway track covering almost the entire country. Pakistan Railways comprises of 8,775 kilometers of track length, 907 railway stations, 78 train halts, 768 locomotives, 2,311 passenger/coaching vehicles and 35,237 freight wagons.
The following projects in railway sector in Pakistan are proposed for private partnership:-
1- Establishment of Railway Equipment Leasing Company (RECO) leasing locomotives and weapons to Pakistan Railway.

2- Provision of Rail link to Central Asian Republics.

3- Introduction of a Bullet Train between Karachi and Hyderabad.


plz pray,
Sardarzada
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God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How shall we console ourselves, the most murderous of all murderers? The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife....

Last edited by sardarzada11; Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 09:52 PM.
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