The two-day overseas Pakistanis investment conference concluded here on Tuesday with doubts over government''s expectations of attracting $3 billion investment from the expatriates. The conference, hosted by Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ministry, was attended by over 400 prospective investors, including 250 expatriates.
The government''s expectations of fetching $3 billion investment was based on figures provided by the participants in the registration forms they had to fill for attending the conference. However, talking to Business Recorder here, a number of expatriates said that they had filled the registration forms, including details about the size of the amount they intended to invest, as a formality.
They said that they would invest, in actual terms, only following the incentives the government would offer to them at the conference. However, talking to a cross-section of participants this reporter gathered that the investors were still concerned about certain issues, including law and order situation and the taxation system.
Shamshad Ali Siddique, from Saudi Arabia, said he had expressed intention to invest $300 million in the construction sector here in the registration forms. However, he added that it was not confirmation, but "just an intention". He would make the actual investment only when his concerns were addressed, he said.
Highlighting his issues, Siddique said that law and order situation and taxation system were the major hurdles in Pakistan for investors. "There are so many agencies involved here, at least 22 of them at federal, provincial and district levels, that catch the new investors before even they settle their businesses," he added.
"We have been hearing of one-window operation for some time, but I have not yet seen that window," he said. Khalid Mehmood Chaudhry, President of Investment Forum, Saudi Arabia, said he did pledge some investment in textile sector in Pakistan but it would materialise only when he felt his capital was safe.
Chaudhry Ghulam Haider, who recently launched his construction company in Pakistan while winding up his fashion design business in UK, complained about lack of skilled manpower in the country. "I brought earthmoving machinery here in Pakistan, but unfortunately I have not yet found persons to operate it," he said.
He said that the government would have to think beyond the major cities and must also concentrate on rural areas where communication had been the cause of concern.
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