ISLAMABAD, June 1: Pakistan and UAE’s Dubai Ports World are discussing the possibility of the company taking over operational management of Gwadar Port, a port official said on Thursday.

The deep-sea port, built with Chinese assistance, is on the Arabian Sea, about 120km from the Iranian border.

“Dubai Ports World expressed an interest for management of Gwadar Port and we are discussing it with them,” Commodore Munir Wahid, project director of the Gwadar Port Implementation Authority, told Reuters.

Wahid declined to say how much the UAE company, the world’s third-largest container port operator, might pay. “We cannot give a figure quoted by Dubai Ports World until the negotiations are final,” he said.

Another port official said DP World had emerged as the favourite for managing operations at Gwadar after Hutchison Port Holdings of Hong Kong withdrew a bid for the project.

Other bidders for the project include PSA International of Singapore, Globe Marine Services of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan International Container Terminal, the second official said.

Executives of Dubai Ports World discussed the management of Gwadar with President Pervez Musharraf last month.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World, which owns Dubai Ports World, accompanied UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum on a visit to Pakistan on Tuesday and signed an agreement on infrastructure development.—Reuters