KARACHI, Jan 1 Six vessels have so far discharged around 105,033 tons of fertiliser at the Gwadar Port. But due to slow dispatch and off-take only 38,115 tons of the commodity has been lifted and a huge balance of 66,918 tons was still lying in the port area, official sources said on Thursday.

Port and shipping circles said that if the government did not improve the momentum of lifting fertiliser from the port the very objective of importing urea on urgent basis to meet the growers' needs for the wheat crop would be defeated.

It will also defeat the purpose of making the Gwadar Port operational after a long period of three years on completion and inauguration in early 2006, the experts felt.

Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is the agency for importing around 0.3 million tons of urea fertiliser and the tender and bidding for haulage of fertiliser from the port to the hinterland was carried out by National Fertiliser Marketing Ltd (NFML) working under the ministry of industries.

Consequently, four ministries are involved in importing, handling and transportation of the fertiliser, which needs to be coordinated properly so that the objective of ensuring timely availability of urea to the growers was not lost.

While the TCP, the importing agency, is working under the ministry of commerce, the ports and shipping ministry looks after the Gwadar Port.

However, haulage of fertiliser from the port to the hinterland is the responsibility of the ministry of industry and the ultimate beneficiary of the fertiliser import is the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal).

Initially, the dispatch of the fertiliser from the port remained even slower at 200 to 250 tons per day but gradually it improved to 3,000 tons.

There is still a greater need for the faster haulage to ensure direct delivery, which means dispatch of the fertiliser should match the discharge from the ship.

The ports and shipping experts believe this could only be ensured by improving lifting of fertiliser from the port area.

The NFML received 23 bids for the haulage of urea from the Gwadar Port but so far only eight were engaged after matching their bids with the two lowest bidders, who backed out.

This means that the NFML can still involve 13 more transporters by asking them to match their bids with the lowest ones and immediately start operations to remove the backlog of around 60,918 tons still lying at the port.

However, it is encouraging to note that the Gwadar Port is showing efficiency by allowing berths to three vessels at a time. Above all, it is a matter of achievement for Balochistan and the country at large to witness another port contributing towards economic progress, these experts said.

The stevedores should increase the number of gangs presently operating once the ministry of industries deploys more trucks for the haulage of urea from the port.