Pakistan Marine Academy Has Trained 2939 National, 68 Foreign Cadets

Pakistan Marine Academy (PMA), the premier public institution training merchant navy officers, has trained 2939 national and 68 foreign cadets.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jun, 2018 ) :Pakistan Marine Academy (PMA), the premier public institution training merchant navy officers, has trained 2939 national and 68 foreign cadets.

This was stated by Commandant PMA, Commodore Akbar Naqi while briefing the Senate Standing Committee (SSC) on Maritime Affairs, during its first meeting about function and performance of the ministry concerned and its attached departments.

The meeting was presided over by chairperson SSC on Maritime Affairs Senator Nuzhat Sadiq.

The commandant informed the committee that earlier PMA lacked latest equipment which impeded its way to reach the level of outmost proficiency and standard while now it possessed state-of-the-art technology.

He said it was a proud moment for the nation that it is the regional branch of World Maritime University (Sweden). It has gained the interest of friendly countries to send their cadets for training to Pakistan, which would increase the scarce strength of foreign cadets studying in the academy, he added.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs has six attached departments with autonomous status including Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Port Qasim Authority (PQA), Gwadar Port Authority (GPA), Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) Karachi, Directorate General of Ports and Shipping Karachi (DG P&S), Korangi Fisheries Harbour Authority Karachi, Pakistan Marine Academy (PMA) and Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) Karachi.

The heads of the attached departments presented a detailed overview of their institutions to the committee members and raised the pressing issues faced by them.

The chairperson and the committee members had a warm interactive session where Senator Samina Saeed raised questions regarding the safety and security measures taken by PQA to avoid any massive incident on the port which the chairman PQA explained to be at par with the international standards. He said that American authorities in their surprise visit appreciated the measures taken by the port's administration.

Senator Kauda Babar questioned the development of projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and the Gwadar Port Authority's role to encourage the local investors willing to spend their money to benefit from it.

Chairman Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) explained to the senator about the developments and initiatives taken according to the project requirements. He said at present Gwadar Free Zone Company was developing 2281 acres for industry, which would be augmented to 18000 acres.

Chairperson Senator Nuzhat Sadiq extended her felicitations to the participants of the meeting as Pakistan achieved the milestone of getting its international water limits increased from 200 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles.