KARACHI, Nov 13: Hopper dredger “ABUL” procured by the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) at a cost of 51 million Euros from the Netherlands arrived at the port here on Tuesday. KPT Chairman Vice-Admiral Ahmad Hayat and other officers received the trailer suction hopper dredger, which sailed for 32 days to reach its destination.

The 104.4-metre-long and 20-metre-wide dredger has two 550-kilowatt in-built jet pump motors, 110 jet nozzles and two 3,100-kilowatt engines.

Dutch experts would train local workers in operating ABUL for a year under a contract.

Admiral Hayat told newsmen that dredging would have cost KPT at Rs600 per square feet but after procuring the dredger, it would cost Rs300 per cubic metre. The KPT would also save foreign exchange by carrying out dredging by itself instead of getting it done by some foreign firm, he added.

He said the present depth of Karachi port’s different channels at sector 1, 2 and 3 would be deepened with this dredger, which would also be used in capital dredging along with some more dredgers to be hired for the purpose.

“We would also build new berths and repair the old ones with the dredger,” he said, adding that repair work on fallen berths would commence within 10 days for which contracts had been awarded to a Korean firm.—PPI