Gwadar development remains Pak-Oman focal point

By Arif Ali

http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp...=21079&pn=local

MUSCAT — Pak Oman Investment Company, a fast developing joint venture between the Sultanate of Oman and Pakistan, is all out to develop and promote Gwadar, a deep-sea port town known for its strategic location in Balochistan, as “the surging land of viable investment options”, the company’s chairman said here yesterday.

“For us, the importance of Gwadar, a gateway to Central Asia, can’t be over-emphasised,” said Yahya bin Said Al Jabri, while illustrating Gwadar’s ‘’fascinating history and geography binding Oman and Pakistan together’’.

He welcomed the initiative of the Times of Oman to hold an international conference in Islamabad in association with other concerned to project the salient features of Gwadar sound enough to attract discerning investors within and outside the two friendly countries.

The initiative was conveyed by Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali, chairman and editor-in-chief of the Times of Oman, at a meeting with Al Jabri, who responded enthusiastically, saying any move to forge closer links between Oman and Pakistan and develop Gwadar would get the fullest backing of Pak Oman, which was created during the landmark visit of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to Pakistan.

The meeting took place at the Capital Market Authority in Muscat where Al Jabri guides the CMA, a watchdog, as its executive president and has since played his role in not only streamlining the country’s all-important stock exchange, but propelling it to new heights.

How to develop and promote Gwadar figured prominently during the first royal visit to Pakistan in 2002 which has lent new dimensions to bilateral links. The royal visit was in response to the invitation extended by Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf during his visit to Oman in late 1999. “Pak Oman is the vision of the leadership in Oman and Pakistan and is bound to grow,’’ said Al Jabri.

He told this correspondent who was present during the meeting that a fully operational Pak-Oman branch office has been established in Gwadar “for identifying commercially viable transactions in the area, while also looking at a number of small transactions there, including hotels, flour mills, ice factories, etc. and due diligence is in the process in some cases”. Also, he disclosed a representative office of Pak- Oman has been set up in Muscat to give a new boost to the company.

He said Pak-Oman has also participated in the financing of a section of Makran Coastal Highway, linking Karachi to Gwadar, while trips to Gwadar were also arranged for a group of Japanese investors and consul generals of European Union countries including the UK, Germany, Italy, Poland, Holland, Switzerland and Russia, besides Omani Investors.

Essa Al Zedjali, who was part of the official delegation accompanying His Majesty the Sultan to Pakistan, said the date and other allied details for the conference, which was conceived before Pakistan’s tragic earthquake, would be worked out once the gloomy atmosphere has receded.

“It should be somewhere in the early part of next year,” said the founder of Oman’s first English language newspaper, now duly supported by an equally read-worthy Arabic daily Al Shabiba. “The aim of the conference is to project Gwadar the way it deserves and in the process bolster age-old links between Oman and Pakistan.’’

Al Jabri said Pak-Oman has donated Rs10 million ($0.17 million) to the President’s Relief Fund for the quake victims while the company’s employees have contributed three days salaries to the fund. A container full of essential goods has also been sent to the affected areas.

Offering a brief overview of Pak-Oman’s operations, Al Jabri, fresh from the board meeting in Karachi, said the company, which was instituted in March 2002, has positioned itself as a leading player in Pakistan’s financial market, thanks to the sound economic policies being followed by President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The balance sheet has increased to Rs9.8 billion ($164 million) with shareholders equity increasing from Rs1.5 billion ($25 million) to Rs2.32 billion ($38.9 million) within three years of inception .”

He disclosed a countrywide Microfinance Bank has been established in partnership with the Sultanate of Oman with a clear-cut objective of poverty alleviation along side financial sustainability. “The bank is expected to become fully operational early next year”.

Al Jabri said an asset management company is also being established in partnership with BankMuscat, the Sultanate’s largest bank, and Oman National Investment Corporation Holding (Onic) to take advantage of “the booming capital markets in Pakistan”. Negotiations with both parties are in an advanced stage.

He further disclosed that Pak-Oman is also active in identifying transactions where the upside is significantly higher than market returns, adding these deals involve the acquisition and turnaround of sick units, with an eventual divestment at a high premium through capital markets.

“Pak-Oman enjoys the support of both sovereign shareholders. In view of future potential, both shareholders have agreed to raise their equity in the company by 100 per cent”, pointed out Al Jabri.

Al Jabri welcomed President Musharraf’s assertion to build an oil refinery in Gwadar and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s recent visit to Gwadar, where he reiterated the resolve to build a worthy airport at Gwadar in the development of which China is also actively involved.” In nutshell, Gwadar remains our focal point.’’

While in Islamabad I did some homework for the proposed conference and received encouraging response from the authorities concerned. The meeting with Communications Secretary Tareq Mahmood turned out to be very productive who talked to the top officials of Gwadar Port Authority whom I would be visiting shortly to have personal insight into the mega deep-sea port under construction at a cost of quarter of a billion dollars which once completed will be transformed into a futuristic gateway for trade to landlocked Central Asia. Pakistan and China signed a deal last year to accomplish the ambitious venture. President Musharaf, highlighting the growing importance of Gwadar, recently told a gathering of civil servants that Pakistan would set up oil refineries in the strategic coastal city to serve as a regional trade hub to provide cost-effective fuel to sustain the country’s high economic growth, adding the government was also developing gas, coal, water and alternate energy sources to minimise the country’s dependence on imported oil.” We have planned for our energy rquirements for the next 15 years because this will be the lifeline for a vibrant economy.’’

He said more oil refineries remained the need of the region.” That way we will turn Gwadar into a regional corridor to Central Asian states and western regions of China and also get cost-effective oil for higher economic growth.

During his recent visit to Gwadar for the groundbreaking ceremony of the port’s Civic Centre, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the federal government, which is spending a record Rs134 billion for development of Balochistan, wanted to “convert Gwadar into a modern city replete with all facilities to attract tourists.’’

He said a modern airport would be built at Gwadar and the existing one would be renovated, while replacing PIA’s Fokker with new ATR aircraft on Karachi-Gwadar route.”

The world has changed. This is the era of globalisation and we are creating atmosphere conducive for foreign investment,’’ said Shaukat Aziz, adding hotels were coming up very fast in Gwadar.