Sindh govt approves technology park

KARACHI: Sindh government has approved two mega industrial and business projects for Karachi, one is the establishment of a state of the art technology park in NED University campus and the other is Karachi Marble City.

The decision was taken in a meeting of public-private partnership (PPP) policy board presided by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah the other day, a statement said. It was decided that both the projects would run under the PPP mode.

The Investment Department has been directed to complete both the projects at the earliest.

Under the Special Economic Zones Act 2012, both the projects would have the status of SEZ.

Thus, investors of both of these projects could avail the facility of ten years income tax exemption as well as custom duty exemption on the import of machinery.

Fast emerging IT industry of Pakistan had earned a billion dollars in foreign exchange last year. Keeping this in view, Sindh government in collaboration with NED University plans to build a 20 storey state of the art building as a technology zone. IT professionals and experts would set up their businesses at the building.

The proposed technology zone should complete by 2021 at an estimated cost of Rs12 billion. The IT companies in this technology park would hire offices on 30 percent less rent with full logistics support.

The other project approved to run under the PPP mode was the Karachi Marble City on 300 acres of land near Northern Bypass.