Japanese businesses show interest in Gwadar real estate

KARACHI: Milestone, a real estate developer, has connected Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) to important Japanese investors with interest in real estate, tourism, and beach area development for the first time in Pakistan.

The visiting Japanese delegation expressed a huge interest in real estate, tourism, beach area development, golf course development, infrastructure development, and public-private partnerships especially in Karachi and Gwadar, a statement said on Wednesday.

The visiting delegation comprised of Cosmo Ec Co Ltd Senior Managing Director Atsushi Isutani, Bros Japan directors Yukio Nishihata and Syed Rehan Ali, Angles National Golf Club President and CEO Shinjiro Nakano, and Milestone Managing Partner and CEO Umer Khalid.

They met with government of Pakistan Ministry of Maritime Affairs Chairman Dostain Khan Jamaldini, Gwadar Free Zone Company Limited Deputy General Manager Peter Hu, and GDA Director General Dr Sajjad Hussain Baloch at Gwadar.

The GDA is a public and government sector corporation responsible for providing municipal services in Gwadar City, while China Overseas Port Holding Company manages the port operations, and is responsible for selling and developing the free zone area.

Following the meeting, Milestone CEO and managing partner Umer Khalid, the key person responsible for introducing Japanese investors to GDA, said, “The Japanese plan to invest heavily in naya Pakistan. The new policies and leadership have inspired confidence in them to invest in our country.”

The keen Japanese investors expressed major interest in areas of development in the tax-free zone of Gwadar. The meeting was an informative one in which the delegation was briefed about port operations and its benefits, and procedures and phases of the free zone.

DG Gwadar Development Authority Dr Sajjad Hussain Baloch discussed the real estate status and development plans of the projects.

The meeting ended on a positive note. It is to be highlighted that the Japanese investors have already invested in retail here, with their first retail outlet opening by the end of the year in Pakistan.