Officials of the Board of Investment (BOI) and Karachi Port Trust (KPT) have reviewed progress on the Karachi Comprehensive Coastal Development Zone programme, which has been included under the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Calling it a “game-changer”, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led federal government in September 2021 had unveiled the ambitious plan to rebuild Karachi’s coastline under CPEC with a $3.5 billion “direct Chinese investment” that aims at overhauling the city’s seaboard with new berths for the port, a new fishery port and a ‘majestic harbour bridge’ connecting it with Manora islands and Sandspit beach.
KPT Chairman Nadir Mumtaz informed the meeting that the spadework of the project was being expedited for the early uplift of the coastal zone.
The zone will be located in the backwater area on the west embankment of the KPT and the project entails the development of three artificial islands through the reclamation of land in the surrounding waters.
The KPT has developed the concept of the zone project as means to solve the issues related to the port in order to solve many of the infrastructure issues plaguing the city as a whole besides developing of fisheries industry of Pakistan and providing opportunities, generating economic activities as well as enabling the transfer of technology in the maritime industry.
The project, being initiated by the Joint Working Group (JWG) under the second phase of CPEC, is led by the BOI from the Pakistan side and the National Development and Reforms Commission from the Chinese side.
