Umar for expediting work on groundbreaking of first CPEC SEZ

Federal Minister for Planning and Special Initiatives, Asad Umar has directed that groundbreaking of the first special economic zone (SEZ) under the CPEC at Faisalabad be ensured before the end of calendar year and necessary work be expedited to achieve groundbreaking of two more SEZs at Rashakai and Dhabeji within the current financial year.

The minister issued these directions while chairing separate meetings to review the progress on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) funded projects here on Thursday. Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan and senior officials of the ministry were also present in the meetings.

While chairing the meeting on the CPEC, the minister was given a detailed briefing on the completed, ongoing and pipeline projects under the bilateral programme. He emphasized that in the new phase of CPEC, the focus would be on enhancing the economic cooperation whereby the business linkages and value chains would be developed, benefiting both the sides.

The minister separately reviewed the progress of various planned SEZs under the CPEC. The minister directed all the relevant ministries and departments to expedite work on the SEZ, especially Rashakai Economic Zone in Nowshera, Dhabeji Special Economic Zone in Thatta and Faisalabad Special Economic Zone, where some work has already been done.

He directed that the groundbreaking of the first SEZ under the CPEC at Faisalabad be ensured before the end of calendar year and necessary work be expedited to achieve groundbreaking of two more SEZs at Rashakai and Dhabeji within the current financial year. The representatives of ministries of petroleum and power assured the minister that they would provide full support to these projects and complete the electricity and gas supply projects expeditiously.

The minister received a detailed briefing on the PSDP-funded projects. It was noted that the fund release mechanism has been made much easier in the recent months and the line ministries can have much greater independence in spending their development budgets.

He said that the ministries and departments must make sure that they make use of this opportunity and complete their projects on time. He emphasized that effective monitoring and evaluation of the projects is essential to ensure their smooth and timely implementation. He also directed that a greater focus effort be made to identify innovative funding mechanisms to finance the infrastructure projects.

While talking to this correspondent, Project Director CPEC Dr Liaqat Ali Shah said that 900 applications of local and foreign investors have been submitted for establishment of industrial units in Rashakai Economic Zone (Nowshera) under the CPEC and its groundbreaking is expected in next month (December).

The CPEC project director said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has prioritized three special economic zones: (i) Rashakai Economic Zone in Nowshera, (ii) Dhabeji Special Economic Zone in Thatta and (iii) Faisalabad Special Economic Zone in Faisalabad. He said that most of industrial units of garments and textile products, steel, minerals, mining, agriculture, electronics and electrical appliances, automobile, and mechanical equipment, etc, would be established in the special economic zones. He said that the execution of the projects is conceived in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

He said that the two big Chinese companies related to mobile phone handsets and steel are interested to establish industrial units in Rashakai Economic Zone. He said that the Board of Investment (BOI) has received as many as 900 applications of local and foreign investors out of which 700 would be entertained. He said that the area of Rashakai Economic Zone consists of 3,480 acres of land and work on infrastructure of utility facilities including gas, electricity, water and others is continued. He said that 10 MW power would be supplied to Rashakai Economic Zone while Rs 1.3 billion budgeted amount has been allocated under the PSDP-2019-20 for utilities of industries under the CEPC.

About Dhabeji Special Economic Zone, the CEPC project director said that bid for this project would be opened in January 2020 and its groundbreaking would be conducted at the end of next year.

He said the location of Dhabeji has advantages including easy access to Port Qasim, enabling raw material import and finished goods export without incurring major inland transportation costs and saving time; easy access to Karachi airport (35-km) via national highway enabling safe travel of foreign workers and management personnel; and direct access to the national highway enabling the transportation of goods to upcountry and Central Asian nations utilizing the National Trade Corridor. He said the Punjab government has invited bids for development of Allama Iqbal Industrial City Faisalabad.