May 16, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429

KARACHI, May 15: The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has arranged Rs5 billion syndicated Islamic finance facility for the expansion of Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT).

The Musharika facility has been jointly advised and arranged by the NBP, Dubai Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

NBP President Syed Ali Raza and QICT Chief Executive Officer Changez Hassan Niazi singed the agreement here on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, the NBP president said that his bank was arranging syndicated Islamic financing for large infrastructure development projects to take these facilities at par with international standards.

This is the first Musharika of this size in the country. The actual finance requirement of this project is Rs10 billion, but the banks are financing a portion of the transaction, he added.

He said that this facility is for six years.

Ali Raza said that banks have become strong enough in Pakistan to finance mega projects. However, he said that commercial banks should not be financing mega projects and it is the role of capital market.

Notwithstanding, mega project with a financial requirements of Rs20 to 30 billion should be funded through hybrid facilities, involving multilateral funding institutions.

Changez Niazi said that the financial facility will be used to double the cargo handling capacity of the QICT from 800,000 to 1.6 million twenty feet equivalent units (TEUs) containers.

“We will build a new 675-meter-long berth with 13.5 meters draft at the port for this purpose to accommodate large vessels,” he added.—APP