Nawabzada Zaheer Barakzai Chairman Mega Movers Pakistan an interview with World News Observer.

CPEC is for Pakistan as a whole and will bring benefits to the Pakistani people including the people from the western parts. Chairman Mega Movers Pakistan talks about the development of country’s largest logistics park being setup in Shahdadkot by Mega Movers Pakistan under the title Shahdadkot Inland Container Terminal (SICT) Private Limited. SICT’s container terminal spread over an area of 60 acres will have a capacity to handle 1.0 million TEUs annually.

 

Nawabzada Zaheer Barakzai holds a Masters Degree in International Marketing from the University of Surrey UK. He is the 11th Chief of Barakzai tribe from Balochistan province.

Shahdadkot Inland Container Terminal (SICT) is the flagship project of Mega Movers Pakistan

Commenting that previous as well as present government had failed to run CPEC on commercial basis and marketing it to the corporate sector across the globe, Barakzai appreciated formation of CPEC Business Forum. He reiterates that CPEC should not solely be run through government channels and it needs to be commercialized, as only then country can reap true benefits of this multi-billion dollar project

 

SICT’s container terminal spread over 60 acres will have capacity to handle 1.0 million TEUs annually

Nawabzada Zaheer Barakzai said that Gwadar is the first phase project of CPEC and presently four berths are operational. As activity is started at a port, a container terminal is required for efficient port operations. There is no container terminal around Gwadar unlike Karachi Port or Port Qasim, which have several container terminals.

Chairman Mega Movers said that the Shahdadkot Inland Container Terminal (SICT) is the flagship project of Mega Movers Pakistan, which was announced in 2015 and is presently under construction. We are working in close coordination and strategic partnership with China Overseas Port Holdings Company (COPHC). This logistics park is actually being constructed for Gwadar port operations. It is located at Gwadar Ratu Dero M8 Motorway, which is the junction of all CPEC routes.

Central route of CPEC is the backbone of this mega project. Its starts from Gwadar Port through M8 motorway connecting to upstream country. Presently Gwadar is connected with coastal highway, which will not be viable in future.

Spread over an area of 90 acres of land, SICT, the integral part of Gwadar Port, is offering multiple facilities such as Business Complex, Hotels, Motels, Warehousing and a dedicated Logistics fleet to connect SICT with the port. This fleet of 500 vehicles would transport all the cargo coming to SICT from across Pakistan to Gwadar port and similarly move cargo meant for upcountry transportation from port to SICT. The distance between SICT and Gwadar port is 325km.In the pretext of some security issues, we have a MoU with National Logistics Cell (NLC) according to which NLC will deliver all the cargo, received at China Kashgar border, to SICT.

“Distance between SICT and Gwadar port is 325 kilometers”

We are the only private company having strategic partnership with China Overseas Port Holdings Company and several cooperation agreements are in place.

Barakzai said It is one of the largest private sector logistics and supply chain project in Pakistan. The estimated cost of the project is $85 million. Around 35 percent of construction work has been completed and by December 2019. Eighty percent construction will be completed and we are hoping to achieve commercial operations by the mid of 2020 depending on the prevailing circumstances. We hope that M8 motorway and M55 motorways will be completed by that time.

Nawabzada Zaheer Barakzai said “Once the Gwadar Port becomes fully operational by 2020, much of the load from Karachi port and Port Qasim will switch to Gwadar Port due to tax holidays and other factors. We would facilitate all these stakeholders. However, there would be some additional benefits for the cargo dedicatedly coming from China to Gwadar port”.

Barakzai said that SICT is housing warehouses as well as open warehousing areas, where we plan to erect storage facilities for petrochemicals as well as the machinery and equipment used in petrochemical industry. SICT is also developing a warehousing facility at Gwadar Free Zone on an area of 10 acres. We would start construction of the warehousing facility in the second phase of SICT project.

“We plan to erect storage facilities for petrochemicals as well as the machinery and equipment used in petrochemical industry” Zaheer Barakzai

SICT project will be completed in three phases; Inception and launching of project has also been attained in the first phase; second phase is the construction of terminal, and after its completion we would start construction of our facility in Gwadar Free Zone and expect its completion by 2022. There is no warehousing facility in Gwadar Free Zone, while the Gwadar terminal is only catering to the China’s cargo.

Nawabzada Zaheer Barakzai said that the SICT Logistics Park would generate around 700 direct employment opportunities in addition to 3,000 indirect employment opportunities. Besides, the people dwelling across Shahdadkot to Khuzdar will also benefit in the form of daily wage jobs. Once traffic starts on Motorway, there will be a whole lot of business and economic activities. It would be a blessing for the people of this area, as there is very limited employment or business activities here at present and 2,500 families in the area will be benefited.

 

SICT Logistics Park will generate around 700 direct employment opportunities in addition to 3,000 indirect employment opportunities

Naturally, motorways and highways being development and prosperity to the very areas these pass through. M8 motorway and SICT will also augment livestock and fisheries industry in the area enabling speedy transportation of the produce.

Further, once economic and business activities are started in this area, there will be requirement for housing facilities and this the construction and real estate sector will also get a boost. SICT will also be looking into this sector going forward.

As part of corporate social responsibility, SICT will impart truck and heavy duty vehicle driving trainings to 800 youth every year from the areas of Khuzdar, Turbat and Mund as well as facilitate them in obtaining required licenses.

 

Project will impart truck and heavy duty vehicle driving trainings to 800 youth every year from Khuzdar, Turbat and Mund

“We intend to develop and operate this logistics park on international standard and market it as a professional setup to invite international business for setting up their business as well.  We have also applied with the relevant authorities to develop Shahdadkot Special Economic Zone to attract investment from local and international businesses”, Barakzai said.