Ministry of Industries and Production is reportedly unhappy with the NIP (National Industrial Parks Development & Management Company) for not providing basic facilities to five companies which are at various stages in the construction of their plants in Bin Qasim Industrial Park (BQIP).
The companies - M/s Techno Auto Glass Ltd, Horizon Steel (Pvt.) Ltd, Barkat Frisian, Kia Lucky Motors (Pakistan) Ltd and Hi-Tech Alloy Wheels Ltd - have still not been provided with utilities such electricity, gas and water to begin operations.
NIP was established by the Ministry of Industries and Production (MOIP) in March 2004 according to its Memorandum & Articles of Association listed on the MOI&P website to develop a world class Industrial park with complete infrastructure and provide land to industries at below market rates along with all utilities to investors at their doorstep.
According to sources, the only development in BQIP took place when the park was inaugurated in 2012 and Yamaha (Motors) Pakistan set up their plant after which nothing has been built. The five companies, which are bringing in close to Rs 35 billion in investment into BQIP and creating thousands of jobs, have been chasing the management of NIP for the last few years to provide them with utilities which were promised when they bought the land, but to no avail.
Prime Minister's Adviser on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, is expected to visit NIP offices on October 10, 2018. The Sindh Board of Investment has been playing an active role to facilitate BQIP investors since last year by holding regular progress meetings but despite almost the passage of a year, NIP has not been able to deliver on its commitments.
"NIP has not provided any security to the foreign engineers and workers currently engaged in setting up plants despite repeated requests of the investors," said one of the investors. According to sources, investors have now been asked to directly engage with KE and SSGC and invest their own funds to arrange utilities at their plants, which was market by NIP as its responsibility at the time of sale of land to investors.
"The utility companies are asking us to pay an additional amount for the infrastructure as they anticipate demand would rise once our plants have become operational. Why are we being forced to pay for what NIP should be paying as they are the developers of this park?" said an investor. NIP is currently being run by a part-time CEO and unless a full-time CEO with a competent team is not put in place, investor woes will only increase further, investors further stated.
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