Qatar Co annuls $225 million cement plant project in Dhabeji

Karachi: Qatar Group of Company has annulled $225 million project for setting up cement plant near Dhabeji, due to delay in legal documentation process by the department concerned, it has been reliably learnt.

A highly-placed official in the Planning and Development Department on condition of anonymity told on Tuesday the company was reluctant to invest huge amount in the project, due to delaying tactics, which were on since the company signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the department concerned last year.

Due to sluggish processing, the QGC fears huge losses in the project, hence unwilling to invest, the official said. 'It would have been a fat chance! Investing $225 million after thoroughly analysing the working environment of the department concerned,' the official quoted the QGC representative as saying.

The official said that two meetings had earlier taken place in the office of the Additional Chief Secretary and the General Administration Department to finalise the deal, which were attended by the secretaries of the Law Department, the Mines and Mineral Development Department and the Land Utilisation Department.

Subsequently, the government decided to provide 400 acres land for the project, which would also earn Rs 100 million revenue for provincial exchequer besides bringing in an investment of about a quarter billion dollars, he added.

'The company was waiting for go-ahead signal by departments concerned for some 10 months but the legal documents have not yet been approved by them, which was essential for commencing the project,' he observed. He said the government has spent millions of rupees on PC-1 of the project, which have gone down the drain after annulment of the deal.