KARACHI (February 12 2003) : A Malaysian Company, Keloil (now Messrs Progas), will set up LPG Terminal at PQ-5, according to sources here on Tuesday.
A shipment of equipment for the project, worth three million dollars, was due here last month.
The Board of Directors, which met here last month, was informed that an implementation agreement was signed on November 15, 1997 with the company, which was required to complete certain formalities like financial closure of project, award of contract and insurance policies and consents to be obtained within 120 days from the date of signing of agreement, but they were not able to complete the formalities within the specified period.
The Board decided at its meeting held here on January 31 to extend the validity period of the date of effectiveness of implementation of the agreement by 180 days upto June 30.
The agreement is liable to be terminated after that date if all required formalities are not completed by the Progas.
According to the minutes of the board meeting available here on Tuesday, on the request of the company, extensions in the earlier 120-day validity date of effectiveness were given, but that too ended on December 31, 2002.
Messrs Keloil on November 30, 2002 was informed of the progress made, such as a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Progas and Ranhill Berhad would be signed within two weeks and formal ground-breaking ceremony was likely to be held during this month.
However, as per the Board approval, since Messrs Keloil had not been able to achieve the date of effectiveness by December 20, 2002, the agreement was likely to be terminated.
In view of the progress made, Messrs Keloil sought permission from the Board for the presentation on the state of affairs, which will only reflect the progress, but their sincerity to set up the LPG terminal is evident and as the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) had no options presently, it supported Messrs. Keloil reluctantly.
The Board, after deliberations, acceded to the request for the presentation by Messrs Progas (formerly Messrs Keloil).
The Managing Director, Progas, Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd, Abbas Bilgrami, gave a presentation on the progress and a tentative time schedule for the completion of the project.
The Board members expressed their apprehensions, as the matter of setting up the LPG Terminal was lingering on since 1997.
Bilgrami informed the Board that the equipment for the project was about to reach and financial closure was also being achieved with Standard Chartered Bank. The representative from the Standard Chartered Bank endorsed this.
Abbas Bilgrami also requested the Board to extend the validity of effectiveness of the agreement by 180 days. After detailed discussions, the Board acceded to the request of Messrs Progas, but categorically observed that no further extension would be allowed.
