ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday ordered wide-ranging reforms at Pakistan’s ports to reduce cargo delays, cut costs for businesses and support economic growth, directing authorities to improve coordination, infrastructure and transparency across the sector.

The instructions were issued during a meeting of a private-sector working group formed to recommend port-related reforms, as the government seeks to ease bottlenecks in trade logistics and improve competitiveness.

“Our ports play an extremely important role in expanding business and driving economic growth in the country,” Sharif said, according to a statement from his office, as he directed port-linked agencies to strengthen coordination to reduce cargo dwell time and ordered a further reduction in port charges to ease the burden on the business community.

Sharif also instructed officials to introduce a transparent system for auctioning abandoned cargo, including the creation of separate yards at ports and the use of internationally reputed firms to manage the process.

He called for faster work on dredging and expanding ports to allow larger vessels to berth and ordered improvements in rail connectivity from ports to facilitate inland cargo movement.

A briefing given to the participants of the meeting highlighted work on a National Ports Master Plan was progressing, adding that a port community system had recently become operational, and fees at several ports were being reduced, including a cut of more than 50 percent in bulk cargo charges at Port Qasim.

Officials also said an electronic bidding system for auctioning abandoned cargo would be launched soon and that tenders for expansion and dredging at Karachi’s ports had already been issued.