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Thursday April 25, 2024

Port Qasim constraints

As the first load of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar is expected to arrive today, one hopes that all goes as planned. However, media reports that say that the supplier had raised alarms about operational constraints at Port Qasim and expressed its inability to deliver a full shipload of

By our correspondents
March 26, 2015
As the first load of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar is expected to arrive today, one hopes that all goes as planned. However, media reports that say that the supplier had raised alarms about operational constraints at Port Qasim and expressed its inability to deliver a full shipload of the commodity are very disappointing.
It proved once again that the government is incapable of doing its job even after 15 years of negotiations and planning. Why do we have a petroleum minister then? That the jetty at the port that had been acquired from a private proprietor by SSGC was not suited to fulfil the task at hand was visible from the outset to everybody who took the time to look at the facility closely. This is another example of negligence and professional inability that is marring almost all government institutions. The milk is spilt, the jetty is unusable to reach by a ship loaded with LNG and has to be upgraded that will take time – months at least if not years – and the contract will come to naught. One can imagine that a fine will have to be paid for this breach of contract.
Ali Ashraf Khan
Karachi