WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 25 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) today signed an agreement to provide up to US$35.5 million to Premier Container Terminal Limited to construct the first private sector port terminal at the Port of Karachi in Pakistan.
IFC's financing consists of loans totalling US$34 million, including up to US$22 million for the account of participants. IFC will also make a US$1.5 million equity investment in the company.
"This is an important beginning in IFC's efforts to promote private sector financing of infrastructure projects in Pakistan and to support the Government's privatization program," said Mr. Jannik Lindbaek, IFC's Executive Vice President, when he signed the agreement in Karachi with Capt. Haleem Siddiqui, CEO of Premier Container Terminal Limited.
The new terminal, at an estimated cost of US$100 million, will provide efficient and high quality infrastructure capacity and increased container and cargo handling capacity up to a total of 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units per year. IFC financing will help to upgrade existing berths and install modern container handling equipment and a computerized traffic data processing system.
The project sponsors include a consortium led by Premier Mercantile Services (Pvt.) Ltd., one of the largest private stevedoring and shipping agencies in Pakistan. Other members of the consortium are the Pakistan National Shipping Conmpany and the Bahria Foundation.
At the project's development stage, IFC provided advice to the sponsors on structuring the implementation agreement with the Karachi Port Trust.
IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is the largest multilateral source of equity and loan financing for private sector projects in developing countries.
