KARACHI, April 22: Ports and shipping experts have cautioned the government not to rush for building a port at Keti Bunder without carrying out prior studies related to geological history of Indus delta to avoid problem of fast silting now being faced by Port Qasim.

They referred to Indus Delta map and said that the Keti Bunder was approachable via Hajamaro creek, which runs beyond Ghora Bari.

Since no hydrographical and other studies carried out in last decade are available it could be any body’s guess about how much dredging will be required to meet the requirement of 14 to 16 meter vessels’ draft and the quantum of annual maintenance dredging?

They pointed out that initial planners and hydrographers at the time of conceiving Port Qasim in the 70’s could not rightly estimate the annual dredging quantum and cost, which was far low compared to the present $5 per cubic meter and cutter dredging cost of $20 per cubic meter.

Consequently, the port is today faced with serious silting problem for which it has to foot colossal annual maintenance dredging cost, which runs up to Rs1 billion to ensure an 11 meter draft.

The experts feared that once the port was deepened, as is being planned to 14 meter at a cost of $140 million, the maintenance dredging would also shoot up.

Furthermore, these experts said that the PQA 40-meter channel with sharp bends restricted night navigation, when compared to 3.5km long channels of the Karachi Port and Gwadar Port, where vessel can berth or sail faster.

Non-availability of night navigation for deep draft vessels and long channels are considered as disadvantage in port planning, they maintained.

The newly-elected prime minister in his opening speech promised to give the nation a new port at Keti Bunder and the Sindh chief minister disclosed recently that work at the port had already begun.

The other aspect of the new port is that there should excellent hinterland connectivity before the port is built.

“We must learn from the experience of Gwadar Port, which is handicapped due to non existent hinterland connectivity,” they said.

Secondly, they cited many countries like India, Bangladesh and Thailand where higher dredging cost forced them to either shut the port or go for another one.

The next generation vessels required draft ranging from 16 to 21 meters thus a site, which is prone to heavy siltation costing billions in dredging, be only considered after hydrographical surveys and financial feasibility, they added.