Prime Minister secretariat seeks surplus land, property data

The Prime Minister Secretariat has sought updated information on surplus land and other properties in the possession of the provincial governments and federal ministries, including Defence Division, to be offered to the foreign and local investors, an official told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
"We have received a letter from the Prime Minister Secretariat a few days ago, in which we have been asked to furnish the details of land and buildings being held by ministry and its attached departments," the official said, requesting not to be quoted.
Sources said the letter has also been addressed to the provincial chief secretaries, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Railways, Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Army Welfare Trust, Karachi.
The PM Secretariat, in its letter, said that a presentation recently made to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, was apparently not up-to-date and the chair desired latest information for the land data bank, the sources added.
Sources said most of the surplus land and properties were being held by the provincial governments, Defence Ministry, including the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Railways, CDA and Commerce Ministry and Army Welfare Trust, adding that fresh information would help the government compile the land data bank and offer it to the investors.
According to the sources, the PM Secretariat had directed all the ministries concerned to furnish latest information by August 25, but most of them did not pay attention to the directives.
The World Bank (WB), in one of its reports, had identified five major barriers to foreign investment in Pakistan that include land acquisition, financial regulations, tax administration, business registration and labour regulations.
A study completed by Foreign Investment Advisory Services (FIAS) - a joint service of International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank - suggests that 79 percent investors identified land acquisition and site development regulation as barrier to making investment in Pakistan.
The main challenge for Pakistan was to keep up with reforms in many developing countries. It had been estimated that levelling up Pakistan's investment indicators to China would raise the average annual sales growth of Pakistani businesses by 8 percent and increase employment growth by 3 percent.
The report also said that recent efforts had been relatively successful and had government demonstrated its commitment to expansion of the investment opportunities.
Sources said the Board of Investment (BoI) had floated the idea of land bank at a meeting chaired by President Pervez Musharraf last year, which aimed at compiling the data of prime land so that it could be offered to the investors.