GWADAR: Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) Chairman Mir Dostain Jamaldini said on Wednesday that the construction of a display centre at Gwadar Port would start in January next year.

He was briefing a delegation comprising participants of the National Security and War Course. The 110-member delegation was led by Maj Gen Mohammad Naeem Ashraf, the chief instructor of the National Defence University, Islamabad.

The delegation, which reached here by a C-130 plane, was welcomed by Mr Jamaldini and other civil and military officials at the airport and taken to Gwadar Port Terminal.

Also read: China handed over land for trade zone in Gwadar

Mr Jamaldini informed the delegation about the facilities and activities at the port being operated by a Chinese company.

He said that the federal government had awarded a contract to the Chinese Overseas Ports Holding Company (COPHC) to develop and operate the port, bring in business and establish Pakistan’s first free economic zone.

He said the free economic zone would be spread over 924 hectares (2,281 acres) near an additional 60-acre tract adjacent to the Gwadar Port Terminal where the COPHC would construct a world-class product display centre.

“The centre will provide an opportunity to investors and entrepreneurs to display their products for international marketing,” Mr Jamaldini said.

He said the land for the free economic zone had been formally handed over to the COPHC during a recent visit to Gwadar by Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, Wang Xiaotao, along with Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal and Minister for Ports and Shipping Kamran Michael.

Later during the formal briefing session, the GPA chairman and Director General of the Gwadar Development Authority Dr Sajjad Baloch informed the delegation about master plans of Gwadar port and city.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2015