‘Punjab way ahead in industrial development’

LAHORE: Punjab is ahead of the other three provinces in establishing state of the art industrial estates, providing investors with superior road network, trucking and commercial areas, and autonomous board of managements through one window.
Experts point out that despite acute energy and power shortages, Punjab Industrial Estates Management Company (PIE) has been able to lure not only local; but multinationals as well in Sunder Industrial Estate; and also in the estates being developed in the less developed regions of the province.
“Tetrapak is operating its packaging plant on 50 acres at Sundar,” said PIE Chairman SM Tanveer, adding that Lays plants and scores of multinational pharmaceutical companies were also operating from Sundar. He said PIE was creating resources for a new industrial estate from each industrial estate it launches, even though PIE was broke five years ago.
He said Sundar at that time was partially complete and revamping of the first phase of Multan Industrial Estate was suspended half way. The contractor went to the court with a claim of Rs600 million, however, the private sector, that took over effective control of PIE from the bureaucracy, negotiated an out of court settlement with the contractor. He said as the development programme resumed, the PIE was able to generate Rs2,500 million from the sales of industrial plots.
Tanveer said a part of that amount was used to procure land in Rahim Yar Khan for a new industrial estate, while with the balance amount PIE started the second phase of Multan Industrial Estate and development work at Rahim Yar Khan. When some plots at Rahim Yar Khan were sold, the PIE management launched an Industrial estate in Bhalwal. Rest he added is history. The PIE, he added, has launched six new industrial estates in Punjab since 2010 from its own resources; three of them are in South Punjab and there are plans to launch four more this fiscal.
“We are running PIE on commercial lines through professional management,” he claimed. Earlier, most of the industrial estates in Punjab were managed by a Punjab government department. The infrastructure was in shambles as the bureaucracy depended on funds from the government to maintain them. Bureaucrats were also unable to collect monthly maintenance fee from the established industries. He said due to negligence in maintenance the roads between the industries at Quad-e-Azam Industrial Estate were converted into a canal during monsoon.
The green belt and parks were encroached. He said PIE constituted an independent private sector board. It was authorised to initiate development work, remove encroachments and cancel plots where industry was not established. He said the responsibility of transfer of plots to new owners was also assigned to BOM. Today, he added Quad-e-Azam Industrial Estate was a transformed entity and buzzing with industrial activities.
Nabeel Hashmi, PIE BOD member, said that the number of directors in PIE has been reduced from 23 to 16. He said 2/3rd of the directors are from the private sector that has eliminated the dominance of the bureaucracy. Autonomy of the BOD of the company was notified by the Punjab government. This resulted in acceleration of activities at PIE. He said in 2010 the colonisation in Sundar was only 4 percent.
Today it is 80 percent. He said Sundar was able to add over 400 medium sized industrial units during the period when industrialisation had halted elsewhere in Pakistan, and Punjab was facing both gas and power shortages.
“This shows that the quality of industrial estate is important when investors make their decision,” he said, adding that PIE has now emerged as a reliable brand name in planning and development of industrial estates. “PIE aims to cover each district of the province and develop industrial clusters based on the skill and expertise of the region,” Hashmi said.
Industrial estates in seven districts are at various stages of completion, and the company would soon launch industrial estates in Pind Dadan Khan, Rawalpindi, Gujrat and Bahawalpur from its own resources.
He said 1,500 acres for the Quad-e-Azam Apparel Park have been acquired, and after proper tendering, development work would start this year. He said this estate alone would provide employment to over 200,000 skilled workers, including at least 50 percent women. He said Punjab was well prepared to reap the benefits of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.