May 24, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21,1424

KARACHI, May 23: President Pervez Musharraf has emphasized that reviving economic growth is top of the government agenda.

The Karachi Port Trust has a crucial role to play in this direction, the president said while addressing a gathering at Manora here on Friday during his visit to the KPT.

“I look to the future of Pakistan with optimism as we have all the potential, including that of human resource, besides the capability of utilizing it,” the president remarked.

He stated that despite adverse political developments in the region Pakistan had kept the pace of progress steady.

General Musharraf pointed out that through stabilization of macro-economic factors, the platform for acceleration of economic growth had been set. He said the fiscal debt had been brought down to less than five per cent of GDP (around 4.5 per cent), the debt servicing ratio had been lowered from 66 per cent to 44 per cent and that it would go under 30 per cent in the next two years.

The president pointed out that country’s exports had risen to more than $10 billion. “The target set in this respect is $10.4 billion but we may achieve the mark of $11 billion exports this year.” He told the audience that he would be loading a container onto a ship at the KPT or at the PQA to mark the achievement of $10 billion of exports anytime after June 3.

The president pointed out that the foreign exchange reserves had crossed $10 billion mark. He said the Karachi Stock Exchange rated as the best performing market in the world last year, has crossed 3,000-point mark.

KPT MANAGEMENT: the president urged the KPT to further improve its port management by cutting bureaucratic hurdles, reduce the cost of port operations and cut cargo clearing time.

“I will interact personally with all agencies in order to improve timings and cost-effectiveness of the port facility,” he said.

He pointed out that the desalination plant being set up by the KPT would help alleviate the sufferings of people of the port city and would serve as an example for others to emulate so that Karachi could be rid of water shortage problem.

General Musharraf said his government had directed the KPT to revitalize its facilities and infrastructure well before the recent geo-political events and stated that he was glad that a good progress had been made in this respect.

The president said KPT was gainfully reinvesting its revenues to initiate projects with far reaching economic impact. He said he had been pleased to learn that during the last 10 months the KPT had embarked on three major and capital intensive projects.

GWADAR PORT: President Pervez Musharraf has said that strategically located Gwadar Port would be ready by December next year.

The president further stated that coastal highway leading from Karachi to Gwadar would also be ready by December next year.

“I will go and open the first leg of this (road) from here to Ormara, about 260 km probably next month,” he remarked.

General Musharraf said the section from Gwadar to Pasni should come up by the end of this year or middle of the next year. The third portion between Pasni and Ormara should also come up by the end of next year.

He further said it was going to be a three-pier port and another addition of more than 10 piers would be made in phase two.

The president pointed out that by December next year “we will ensure that routes coming from Quetta side from Chaman, Kandahar-Chaman, from Jalalabad-Chaman and also from Jalalabad-Torkham-Peshawar get linked through a number of highways to Karachi and to Gwadar.”

He said the ADB was showing a lot of interest and financing roads projects from Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.—APP