WORK has started on the Pakistan International Bulk Terminal project at Port Qasim which, according to its sponsors, will be a state-of-the-art multipurpose dirty bulk cargo handling facility on a build operate and transfer basis.

The PIBT project, estimated to cost $250m, will have an annual capacity of handling 12m tonnes of coal and 4m tonnes of cement and clinker. It is expected to be operational by 2016.

With the expected surge in coal demand, provisions have been made so that the capacity of the terminal could be enhanced up to 20m tonnes per year, Sharique A Siddiqui, chief executive officer of PIBT, told this writer in his office.

If all the envisaged coal-run power plants in Punjab come into operation, he said, they would alone need a huge quantity of up to 20 to 25m tonnes of coal per year.

Initially, he felt, K-Electric would benefit from this terminal because the power utility is converting one of its existing power plants at Port Qasim to coal, and is also constructing a new coal-based plant.

He further said the country would need more such dedicated terminals to cater to the rising demand for coal by power plants in the coming years, because even in developed countries, coal makes up to 40pc of their energy mix.

Responding to a question, he said dredging is ongoing, and a Chinese company has been awarded the contract, which is already working in Pakistan.

He added that PIBT is a public company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, and is partly financed by the International Finance Corporation and the OPEC Fund for International Development, along with a syndicate of local commercial banks and the sponsors — Marine Group of Companies.

Siddiqui opined that efficiency and profit margins of trade and industry heavily depend on logistical and infrastructure facilities.

The Marine Group initially planned to build the terminal with an initial handling capacity of 5m tones, to be subsequently enhanced to 10m tonnes in the second phase.

However, after looking at a major shift in the PML-N government’s energy policy, the group revised the terminal’s handling capacity upwards, which increased the project’s cost from $185m to $250m.

During the coming 3-4 years, there is expected to be a surge in coal demand because of several new coal-based power projects and the proposed conversion of existing furnace-based plants to coal to bring down the generation cost.

The development layout of the coal, clinker and cement terminal comprises the construction of a jetty of up to 460 metres in length, a trestle with separate conveyor belts for coal and cement and clinker to connect the jetty with the storage yard (approximately 2.5km), and a storage yard with on-shore facilities.

The terminal will have a backup area of around 62 acres, while the trestle will be nine metres wide and 2.5km long, capable of handling vessels of 55,000 to 75,000DWT (dead weight tonnage), and a draught of 13 metres.

As per other details, the PIBT will have modern handling equipment, including two ship-unloading cranes for coal and one ship-loading crane for cement. The average handling speed of coal will be 1,500 tonnes per hour.

The dirty cargo terminal will also have five cement silos with 10,000-tonne capacity each. The airtight silo facility will allow cement exporters to maintain the quality of their product and also help bring to an end the monopoly being presently enjoyed by one exporter at the Karachi Port.

The conveyer belt from the terminal up to silos will be ultramodern and fully covered to ensure that the entire area is duty-free and that the environment is protected from any sort of pollution.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, September 1st, 2014