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Friday March 29, 2024

New industrial clusters, SEZs soon

By Our Correspondent
October 03, 2019

LAHORE:Punjab Minister for Trade & Industry Aslam Iqbal presided over a meeting at PBIT Office on Wednesday in which different matters, including setting up of new industrial clusters, special economic zones and establishment of necessary infrastructure in industrial zones came under discussion.

The meeting decided to set up a coordination committee along with the federal government to deal with the provision of electricity and gas in industrial estates and the matters pertaining to federal government. Approval has also been given to provide funds for the construction of link road of Quaid-e-Azam Apparel Park.

Aslam Iqbal said that Punjab was an attractive destination for investment and this is the reason that more than one billion dollars had been invested in the province. More investment will also be made in future, he added. He said that world-class infrastructure was being provided in industrial zones and a number of foreign companies had invested in Faisalabad industrial estate. He said that Quaid-e-Azam Apparel Park would speedily be completed near motorway in Sheikhupura to strengthen the textile sector. He said that the country’s largest industrial estate was being established in Muzaffargarh and Layyah over an area of 20,000-acre. This would promote development process in Southern Punjab, he added.

Plastic bags issue settled: Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat has said that the issue of the material, size and thickness of plastic bags has been settled with the manufacturers’association.

He said a technical and scientific panel was also being formed for further recommendations. The Punjab government will introduce a new policy in the province regarding plastic bags by incorporating the reforms introduced by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments with the recommendations of the scientific panel.

According to a handout, he stated this while chairing a meeting on Wednesday at the Punjab Environment Department office. Raja Basharat said that in the present form, plastic bags were posing grave risks to the environment and human health. "In view of the judicial orders, we will endeavour not to put the health of millions of people at stake in the interests of the few lacs but want a long-term solution to this problem, which is suitable for both the public and the industrial and business community," he said. He said that the government wanted to solve the problem efficiently to save the employment of millions of people and unanimous recommendations in this regard will be presented to the honourable court.