QUETTA: Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) Chairman Naseer Khan Kashani has invited members of the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) to take advantage of golden opportunities for investment in the port city.

Speaking at a meeting with the QCCI members here on Monday, he said the government had already announced plans to extend maximum facilities and incentives to those businessmen who intended to make investment in Gwadar. He assured them of giving priority to their proposals about investment and trade.

Mr Kashani said 92 per cent of work on Eastbay Expre­ssway had been completed, while the Pakistan-China Vocational Center was made ready three months ago and the pace of work had been accelerated on other projects launched under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Gwadar city and other areas of the coastal district.

The QCCI patrons, Chief Ghulam Farooq Khliji, Senior Vice President Abdullah Achakzai, Vice President Akh­tar Kakar, Yahya Khan Nasir, Fujan Bareech, Ayub and others, welcomed Mr Kashani on his arrival at the Chamber.

They said a delegation of the Chamber had recently visited Gwadar Port to review the situation and progress on the ground.

They said the exporters and importers of Balochistan should also get tax exemption at Gwadar port in the style of SRO 492 and assured the GPA chairman that the QCCI would extend all possible cooperation to the government in connection with Gwadar Port.

He said that more and more people were benefiting from the golden opportunity of working in Gwadar. He said the people involved in the industry and trade would have to make a quick and timely decision on the investment in Gwadar Port.

The GPA chairman said more trade-friendly measures were being taken. He said that steps would be taken for tax exemption and other incentives. “We will be able to build 31 berths in Gwadar by 2050.”

He said the project was in the eyes of the enemies and they were trying to derail it, but “we all have to work together to complete it successfully”.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2021