KARACHI, March 7: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Monday the economic development strategy would now be based on five pillars of providing efficient and sound infrastructure , including roads network, railways, ports and telecommunications, adequate water, gas and power, and more investment in developing and improving human capital.

"Without providing these facilities at global standard we can not ensure smooth and efficient working of logistic and supply chains for quick and timely delivery of goods and services from manufacturers to buyers or end consumers," the premier observed.

Speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony of the Karachi International Container Terminal (KCIT) Phase III, the prime minister said that in the next five years there would be a lot many opportunities as well as challenges, and the government was fully aware of these realities and working on them to meet economic challenges.

Shaukat Aziz further said the second generation reforms were being implemented to improve efficiency in all sectors of the economy and ensure an enabling environment for rapid growth of trade and industry.

The National Economic Council (NEC) in its last meeting strongly felt that modern ports should have proper and efficient infrastructure to handle faster and quicker movement of goods in and out of port areas.

"Our highways are inadequate and it takes a week to transport goods from Islamabad to Karachi. We have to build roads, railways, ports and airports of global standard to ensure logistic and supply chains keep working efficiently and meet the deadlines of delivery of goods to buyers.

When the government undertakes reforms agenda it looks very difficult, but today we are in a position to launch the second generation reforms for bring about efficiency and rapid growth in the economy," he emphasized.

He said Pakistan was blessed with three major ports -- the Karachi Port, Port Qasim and now the Gwadar Port - and all these ports worked like windows to the world. Ports are central point from where nations interact with each other and a country without a port is like a country without a window, he maintains.

Appreciating the working of the Karachi Port Trust, the prime minister said that there was a time when ships had to wait for days as the port's capacity was poor and there was no efficiency. But as the economy grew, the Karachi Port has also enhanced its capacity and brought about a lot of improvements in its efficiency, he adds.

Shaukat Aziz said the country needed to expand its trade relations with other nations. "We need trade 'not aid' and firmly believe in free trade with lower tariff barriers.

Those days have gone when nations used to hide behind tariff barriers, but now they have to live on competitive and comparative advantages." He says Pakistan today has a maximum tariff of 25 per cent with average customs duty at 12 per cent against an allowable duty of 75 per cent.

The expansion in handing capacity of containers under the phase III of KICT, he said, would help meet growing economic and trade activity of the country and noted that the project was a hallmark of cooperation between private and public sectors. He appreciated the KPT for providing and ensuring enabling environments that fetched around $150 million investment in the KICT so far.

The prime minister also lauded the expertise of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd in providing state-of-the-art technology and methods for running the KICT on modern and efficient lines to meet the challenges of rapidly growing economy of the country. Later, the prime minister performed the ground-breaking of the KICT Phase III.

Present on the occasion were Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Ports and Shipping Minister Senator Babar Khan Ghouri, ports and shipping secretary and members of diplomatic corp.