Article

2019-12-28 Afghanistan

US to facilitate $85m funds for the strategic Chabahar port equipment purchase

[KhaamaPress] United States has given a ‘written’ assurance to India that will help facilitate global banks to fund the purchase of equipment worth $85 million to be erected at Chabahar port which India is developing in Iran, the Hindu BusinessLine reported.
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Chabahar is of great strategic importance for the development of regional maritime transit traffic to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

In November 2018, the United States granted a waiver to the port from the sanctions it has imposed on the Persian Gulf nation.

“We have to procure equipment for running the port, but because of the US sanctions, we are not able to procure,” a government official briefed on the issue said.

“We have placed the orders for equipment, some as long as two years ago, but we are not able to open a letter of credit (LCs). Banks are not coming forward. The US had earlier given verbal assurances (on the waiver fine print) but were very reluctant to give anything in writing, and the banks insist on the document. Now, after the recent visit of Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, they have given us something in writing, and we are trying to go ahead,” the official stated.

“The payments are in dollars. We need some banks which deal in dollars or euros, so we have to hit the international banking system and there if the word Iran comes, no bank is prepared to stick its neck out,” he stated.

India Ports Global (a 60:40 joint venture between Jawaharlal Port Trust and Deendayal Port Trust) and Aria Banader Iranian Port signed a deal in May 2016 to equip and operate the container and multi-purpose terminals at Shahid Beheshti – Chabahar Port Phase-I with capital investment of $85.21 million and annual revenue expenditure of $ 22.95 million on a 10-year lease. Cargo revenues collected will be shared by India and Iran as per an agreed formula.

Located in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province on Iran’s South-eastern coast (outside the Persian Gulf), Chabahar port is of great strategic importance for the development of regional maritime transit traffic to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Posted by trailing wife 2019-12-28 00:00|| || Front Page|| [14 views ] Top

#1 From Wikipedia:

Chabahar Port (Persian: بندر چابهار‎) is a seaport in Chabahar located in southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman. It serves as Iran's only oceanic port, and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each of which has five berths.[1]

The India–Iran–Afghanistan three-way memorandum of understanding (MoU) plans have committed at least $21bn to Chabahar–Hajigak corridor,[2] including $85m for Chabahar port development by India,[3] $150m line of credit by India to Iran,[3] $8bn India-Iran MoU for Indian industrial investment in Chabahar Special Economic Zone,[4] $11-billion Hajigak iron and steel mining project awarded to seven Indian companies in central Afghanistan,[4][5] and India's $2bn commitment to Afghanistan for developing supporting infrastructure including the Chabahar-Hajigaj railway,[5] with potential for several times more trade via connectivity to 7,200-km-long multi-mode North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) connecting to Europe and Turkey, R297 Amur highway and Trans-Siberian Highway across Russia,[6] and planned Herat to Mazar-i-Sharif railway providing access to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.[6] Chabahar Port also provides direct access to India's Farkhor Air Base in Tajikistan.[7] Chabahar route will result in 60% reduction in shipment costs and 50% reduction in shipment time from India to Central Asia.[8]

Development of the port was first proposed in 1973 by the last Shah of Iran, though development was delayed by the 1979 Iranian Revolution.[9] The first phase of the port was opened in 1983 during the Iran–Iraq War as Iran began shifting seaborne trade east towards the Pakistani border in order to decrease dependency on ports in the Persian Gulf which were vulnerable to attack by the Iraqi Air Force.[10]

India and Iran first agreed to plans to further develop Shahid Beheshti port in 2003, but did not do so on account of sanctions against Iran.[11] As of 2016, the port has ten berths.[1] In May 2016, India and Iran signed a bilateral agreement in which India would refurbish one of the berths at Shahid Beheshti port, and reconstruct a 600 meter long container handling facility at the port.[12] The port is intended to provide an alternative for trade between India and Afghanistan. This port is 800 kilometers closer to Afghanistan than Pakistan's Karachi port.[13] The port handled 2.1 million tons of cargo in 2015,[14] which is planned to be upgraded to handle 8.5 million tons by 2016, and to 86 million tons in the future.[15][16]

In July 2016, India began shipping US$150 million worth of rail tracks to Chabahar to develop the port container tracks and build US$1.6 billion Chabahar–Zahedan railway built by India's Ircon International for which India pledged additional US$400 million and Iran allocated US$125 million in December 2016, thus taking the total allocation to US$575 million (out of US$1.6 billion needed for the rail route) till the end of 2016.[17][18] In October 2017, India's first shipment of wheat to Afghanistan was sent through the Chabahar Port.[19] In December 2018, India took over the port's operations.[20]

Posted by trailing wife 2019-12-28 14:04|| 2019-12-28 14:04|| Front Page Top

#2 Alternate transport route to Afghanistan which bypasses treacherous Pakistan

Posted by John Frum 2019-12-28 14:33|| 2019-12-28 14:33|| Front Page Top

#3 How else are we to know what goes in and out of Iran?

Posted by Skidmark 2019-12-28 14:50|| 2019-12-28 14:50|| Front Page Top

#4 If Afghanistan is to have trade independent of taliban control, infusing money into the legitimate govt, this is most necessary. It reduces the aid burden, cuts out Pakistain, gets India there before the taliban 'Emirate' can lease it to China, and allows us to police the Arabian sea citing naval-terrorism. Certain parties have already begun the roads network that will be necessary to run any future trade or even wars around and through the hitherto undeveloped desert region. Contracts to run the transport and routes were already concluded in 2015, and the US approved.

India will be building the 900-km Chabahar-Zaranj-Delaram-Hajigak railway line to mine the vast deposits of ore in Bamiyan, central Afghanistan. We won't rob them, India always pays. Naturally, India will protect its interest against the taliban and their ISI benefactors. It's good for us to get in the ring for once. Also, India could be a great bridge builder and voice of reason, in case good sense doesn't prevail and the US wishes to remain there.

Trump knew China had been presented a plan by the Pakis to integrate Chabahar with Gwadar, allowing Iran to escape sanctions as well as locking out the subcontinent from its use. He probably thought, better India than them. In any case, Pakistain is not long for this world now. Sometime in the new 20s, China shall have to renegotiate Gwadar too with India.

Posted by Dron66046 2019-12-28 17:36|| 2019-12-28 17:36|| Front Page Top

#5 Pakistain is not long for this world now.

Be still, my heart. It was one of those experiments — but will it be a bang or a whimper?

The rest of the explanation is very helpful. Thank you, Dron66046. I’m going to sound positively brilliant at the next dinner party, when I modestly defer to your reasoning. ;-)

Posted by trailing wife 2019-12-28 22:29|| 2019-12-28 22:29|| Front Page Top

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