The foundation stone of the country’s first mechanised coal, clinker and cement terminal at Port Qasim, on a thirty-year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, was laid here on Friday by PQA Chairman Vice Admiral M Shafi (Retd). The PQA Chairman operated the chain excavator to commence the first excavation activity for construction of the terminal. In his inaugural speech, CEO PIBT Sharique A Siddqui highlighted salient features of the project. He informed that the terminal would be constructed as a state-of-the-art dirty bulk cargo handling facility at an estimated cost of approximately $186 million. He further said that the process of developing mangroves reforestation plan was underway in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on 500 hectares area, to improve marine ecology. Chairman Marine Group Haleem A Siddiqui said that the PIBT project was in line with the vision of Marine Group of Companies to be the pioneering group of Pakistani entrepreneurs and professionals to set up modern cargo handling infrastructure in the country. The construction work of the project has been awarded to a Turkish-Pakistani consortium of Siyahkalem-Maqbool (JV).-PR