KARACHI: A contract of $130 million for the construction of country’s first dirty cargo terminal, Pakistan International Bulk Terminal (PIBT), at Port Qasim, was awarded on Monday to China Harbour Works.

According to official sources, a letter of award has been issued by the Marine Group of Companies, the sponsors of the project, to China Harbour Works with a completion period of 24 months for the contracted civil work.

The total cost of the PIBT will be $250m which will also include the cost of equipment. Under the first phase, the terminal will have the capacity to handle 12m tonnes of imported coal a year.

The terminal will also handle 5m tonnes of cement and 2m tonnes of clinker a year which are being presently exported in bulk quantities.

However, under second phase, the PIBT will expand its capacity of handling imported coal to 20m tonnes to meet the growing energy demand of the country, the sources added.

The China Harbour Works, which is presently running the Gwadar Port, will start civil work of the terminal within a month and complete it in a period of two years.

The same Chinese company is also working on Economic Corridor from Gwadar to western China, the sources added. The dirty cargo terminal will be of great use for the country particularly when most of the new power plants being set up are coal based and many old plants are also being converted.