Senator Babar Khan Ghauri told the Senate on Thursday that Gwadar Port was almost complete and President General Pervez Musharraf would inaugurate it on March 23.

A nine-member bench of the Supreme Court on Monday summoned a detailed report on the allotment of land in Gwadar to ministers, politicians and bureaucrats, and directed the Balochistan advocate general to cancel the allotments and return the land to the provincial government.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has in principal approved the handing over of the Gwadar Port operations to Singapore Port Authority. The decision has been made on the recommendation of Gwadar Port Implementation Authority (GPIA) and the special committee constituted to negotiate the agreement for operations of Gwadar Port.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Thursday granted 40-year tax exemptions to the proposed operators of Gwadar port, making it a virtual tax-free port to the extent of its development and operations.

The UAE”s DP World has dropped a bid to manage Gwadar port due to commercial reasons, a local newspaper said on Friday. “We have looked carefully at this opportunity and have decided not to pursue it,” Gulf News quoted a Dubai Ports World official as saying.

The government has decided to give the management control of the Gwadar deep-sea port to the Singapore port operator PSA International, Federal Ports and Shipping Minister Babar Ghauri said on Friday. Ghauri told reporters that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had approved awarding the contract to PSA and the company would take charge of the port[…]

The Chinese petroleum industry has indicated an interest in shifting its excess capacity to Gwadar, bringing in estimated investment of $13 billion, a senior government official told Daily Times on Wednesday.

The government will nominate a body for operating the Gwadar Deep Sea Port this week, an official source disclosed. Three international companies – the Dubai Port World, Hutchision Port Holding of Hong Kong and PSA International, Singapore – are competing for the operating contract.

The Gwadar Port should be connected with the rest of the country through rail link. This scheme should be implemented prior to the road links in and around the new port city whose first phase is expected to be inaugurated in December, says a study.

The Senate was informed on Wednesday that Gwadar Port would be operational by Dec 30, 2006. During the question hour, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Kamil Ali Agha said that 90 per cent work on the first phase of the port had been completed.