The government is planning to regulate the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) through legislation. Sources told Business Recorder on Sunday that in the past, policies regarding SEZs were not implemented. Consequently, the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and the defunct special industrial zones failed to provide the desired-results.
They said that the previous government had also initiated industrial estates and industrial parks in the country to meet the growing challenges of competitiveness but they were still to produce any positive results. In wake of the above-mentioned facts, the government has now decided to develop a uniform legal framework for SEZs. They said that the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) had earlier proposed to develop a policy, legal and institutional framework for SEZs, in 2008, which is now being prepared by the Board of Investment (BOI).
They said that currently BOI was drafting a proposal in this regard, which would soon be submitted to the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) for approval.
They said that the BOI in co-operation with ministry of industries, production and special initiatives, ministry of finance, and CSF would prepare a policy for formulation of board of approval to regulate policy framework for SEZs after getting ECC''s nod in this regard.
This policy will then be transformed into a draft law for SEZs, they added.
They said that SEZs was aimed at promoting rapid industrialisation by attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), in the areas of manufacturing, high technology, vendor industry and other export-oriented industries. To a question, they said the zones were being developed under public-private partnership where public sector provided some level of support (provision of off-site infrastructure, equity investment, soft loans and others) to enable private sector developer to obtain a reasonable rate of return on the project.
They said that SEZs were the gateway for foreign investors to access 160 million Pakistani consumers, besides regional markets of Central Asian States, Afghanistan, Iran and India by road-link, sea and air.
The sources said that SEZs were being created in many countries as "economic enclaves" to create congenial conditions for private sector development in defined geographic areas.