PQA and PQATI eye $500 million FDI in next two years: joint investment moot planned

Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Port Qasim Authority Trade and Industry (PQATI) have agreed to hold a joint investment conference to attract at least $500 million foreign direct investment (FDI) in PQA's industrial estate in the next two years.
The agreement was reached when a PQATI delegation, led by its Patron-in-Chief, Naeem Ilyas Khanani, called on Chairman, PQA, Vice Admiral Asadullah Qureshi (Retd) in his office on Thursday.
The meeting attended by Acting Chairman, PQATI, Usman Ahmed, Mian Shakeel Ahmed and other officials from PQA, the sources disclosed. 'A minimum target of $500 million FDI has been set for the next two years in Port Qasim's industrial estate with the help of Board of Investment (BoI),' they revealed.
The PQA chairman, in consultation with PQATI, has also formed a committee of PQA officials for organising the conference, they said. The sources further said that the conference would be organised with the help of BoI, for which the PQA-PQATI committee would hold meetings scheduled to be held between July and August this year.
Qureshi expressed his resolve to make Port Qasim a user-friendly port by rendering cost effective and time efficient port services and instilling procedural improvements through policy intervention and minimisation of red tapism at every administrative level. Attaching an 'instrumental' role with PQATI for achieving the Authority's objectives in PQA industrial estate, the chairman said PQA wanted to play a key strategic role in National Trade Corridor (NTC) policy.
Moreover, progress on various development projects in PQA industrial estate was also reviewed during the meeting. The PQA chief assured the delegation that work on drainage system for North-West Industrial Zone would be started soon and hopefully completed by the end of this month after its redesigning and re-routing. During the meeting it was also decided that the chiefs of PQA and PQATI would every month jointly survey the progress of development and maintenance of projects.
Qureshi also formulated a joint PQA-PQATI committee to finalise the PQA 'Master Security Plan', under which at least eleven surveillance barriers and four check posts would be installed at PQA, besides launching an anti-encroachment drive to evacuate land from temporary restaurants mainly in North Western Industrial area. He also announced the commencement of tendering process for projects, like Dual Carriage Way, Eastern Zone Bridge, Dedicated parking zone and maintenance of all dilapidated roads.