WORLD BANK OFFICIALS MET THE MINISTER FOR PORTS AND SHIPPING KAMRAN MICHAEL AND DISCUSSED $ 115.8 MILLION KARACHI PORT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT WHICH COMPRISES THE RECONSTRUCTION OF BERTHS 15 – 17A AND INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING STUDIES

The federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Senator Kamran Michael met the World Bank officials and discussed the World Bank financed $ 115.8 million Karachi Port Improvement Project which has two components. The first component deals with the Reconstruction of Berths 15 – 17A and the other is to carry out Institutional Strengthening Studies. The Minister Kamran Michael was informed about the scope of studies conducted for the 10 years’ strategic business plan, improvements of environment health safety standards at the port and improvement of financial management systems of the port.

The Minister appreciated the efforts towards the midterm review of World Bank financed Karachi Port Improvement Project. He was apprised of the objectives of the Midterm review which the World Bank team is presently doing to assess progress on key components of the project, review the project’s operational aspects, and progress towards achieving the development objectives. The mission will focus on determining corrective actions needed for the project to achieve intended results and suggest any adjustments if so required based upon the discussion with Government counterparts and other stakeholders. The mission is also meeting port users to get their views and feedback. The Word Bank Port Economist Edward Liang, Consultant Yousuf Hussain, Disbursement Specialist Anwar Bhatti, Financial Management Specialist Naveed Saeeed and Port Specialist Hassan Afzal Zaidi were present in the meeting which was also attended by Chairman KPT Rear Admiral Azhar Hayat and KPT’s planning and development division team.