Gwadar port contract is 'confidential', federal secretary informs Senate panel.

Byline: Mubarak Zeb Khan

ISLAMABAD -- A Senate panel on Thursday was taken aback when a federal secretary declared that the contract governing affairs of the Gwadar port was 'confidential' and its details could not be disclosed publicly.

The Senate standing committee on finance led by Senator Farooq Hamid Naek on Wednesday had asked federal Secretary of Maritime Affairs Rizwan Ahmed to share copies of contracts and related documents on award of contracts and sub-contracts regarding Gwadar free zone.

Mr Rizwan replied that the documents could not be shared with the Senate committee chairman and read out one paragraph from the agreement which says the contents of the agreement will be kept confidential.

The issue has been under discussion at the standing committee for the last three days in the wake of the government's inclusion of tax concession ordinance in the finance bill 2020. The bill has expired after a one-time extension.

Copies of agreement will be given to committee during in-camera meeting on Tuesday and then taken back

Senators Dr Musadik Malik, Ayesha Raza, Talha Mehmood and Ateeq Shaikh expressed their anger and displeasure when the secretary said that copies of the contracts could not be shared even with legislatures.

To pacify the senators, the committee chairman suggested having an in-camera meeting in which copies of the documents would be shared for one hour and then recollected.

Senator Ateeq told the secretary that he could not dictate to a senator. Mr Rizwan replied that he was informing the chairman of the committee.

Finally, the secretary agreed that he would share copies of the contracts with the committee members on Tuesday. 'The copy will be shared at 10am before the start of an in-camera meeting at 11am,' the secretary said, adding that the copies would be recollected soon after the meeting.

On the website of the ministry of maritime affairs, Mr Rizwan has mentioned in his profile one of his major achievement as the federal secretary as being 'the main facilitator in resolving the matter of granting tax exemption to the China Overseas Ports Holding Company to facilitate the establishment of its industrial units at Gwadar Port, an issue pending since seven years prior to his appointment'.

The government had signed a contract over Gwadar port with a Singaporean company in 2006, which was later given to the Chinese company in 2013. The need for the sharing of copies of the contracts was felt when contradictory...