Exports boost linked to Special Economic Zones

LAHORE: Special Economic Zones (SEZs) would help country in enhancing exports by $1billion to $1.5billion per annum in the short-run by ensuring effective and comprehensive planning.

Chairman of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) Mian Kashif said Sunday that a successful entity of combination of public private sectors partnership would ultimately turn into an economic engine of country progress through China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiatives. Appreciating the economic vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said premier had directed all the departments concerned to remove hurdles to SEZs’ development and establish them on priority basis. Fortunately, he said almost 100 percent plots in M-3 Industrial Estate had already been sold out while hundreds of units had become operational and were playing their role in providing exportable surplus in addition to accommodating thousands of workers. Mian Kashif said that the industrial city would house more than 400 textile, steel, pharmaceutical, engineering, chemical, food processing, plastic and agriculture appliances units in addition to providing jobs to 250,000 workers. He claimed that the city was also expected to attract Rs400 billion local and foreign direct investment that would help Pakistan to stabilise its economy.

FIEDMC Chairman said investors from China, Turkey, Korea and Britain had pumped $1.10 billion and their confidence in Pakistan had been restored as they were also bringing more investors from their respective country to invest in SEZs. He said these investors expressed their eagerness to explore the possibility of investment in diverse sectors of Pakistan especially in ceramics, chemicals, steel, food processing and automobiles.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan clearly directed them to focus on developing such industry in SEZs which is based on export and import substitution to restrict the import bill. He said the good thing was that a number of Chinese industries had started pumping investment in SEZs and apparently the reason behind this is that the production cost in China has increased and another factor which is making Pakistan one of the beneficiaries of ongoing US-China trade war.

Mian Kashif also emphasised that consistent policies were imperative to attract foreign investment into the country, which could lead the economy towards sustainable growth.