KARACHI, March 3: Port Qasim Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Syed Afzal has said that 10 private sector projects were being implemented for capacity enhancement of the port.

He stated this while giving a briefing to Federal Secretary Port and Shipping M Saleem Khan, who visited the port on Monday, about the progress made by the authority.

The PQA chairman informed the secretary that with the completion of these projects by 2010, the cargo handling capacity of the port would be enhanced to 82 million tons while number of berths would be increased from 10 to 20.

Simultaneously, the authority was also striving for deepening of navigation channel to attract major shipping lines to call at the port, he added.

The admiral further said the port handled over 24.4 million tons of cargo during 2006-07, showing a growth of 13 per cent over the previous year.

The secretary lauded the PQA’s role in meeting seaborne trade requirements of the country. —APP