Deputy Prime Minister and PML-Q Senior Central Leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has said that many mega projects are in the offing for the economic revival of the country, including establishment of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) all over the country and implementation of a new industrial policy that is being formulated in consultation with the business community.
The Deputy Prime Minister was talking to LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh and Vice President Saeeda Nazar during a call-on meeting at his residence on Tuesday. The meeting continued for well over an hour and both the sides discussed a number of issues including shortage of electricity.
Pervez Elahi said that "when we got the charge of the EPZA, its land was under occupation of grabbers' mafia, now 100 acres of land has been retrieved on which the EPZ would be established. He said EPZA offices would be set up all over the country including Karachi so that more industrial estates could be established and new job opportunities created.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the government was aware of the problems being confronted by the trade and industry due to power crisis and added that a remarkable cut in the loadshedding would be witnessed in the coming months. He said the proposed industrial policy would pave way for acceleration of industrial activity in the country, ultimately giving boost to the exports while alleviating poverty and unemployment.
He said LCCI would be taken on board well before the finalisation of upcoming industrial policy, adding the government was focusing on implementation of long-term policies so that true results could be evolved for the benefit of common man. Pervez Elahi said that promotion of Indo-Pak trade would go a long way in bringing peace and prosperity in South Asia. To help cope with the imports from India, government was endeavouring to strengthen the local industrial sector.
He said all possible measures were being taken to ensure continuity in economic policies that was a prerequisite to turn the country a hub of economic activities and to achieve this goal all the stakeholders including chambers of commerce in the country would be consulted.
LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh on the occasion apprised the Deputy Prime Minister of the challenges being faced by the business community, saying that an acute shortage of electricity in Punjab had forced the businessmen to shift their operations to the other parts of the country where the electricity situation in better. He said it was very unfortunate that in Punjab the loadshedding was more than 12 hours while in the other parts of the country there were no power cuts at all.
He said that an acute shortage of power cuts had sent a very wrong single to the foreign businessmen who were planning to put their money in Pakistan. He said products being manufactured in other parts of the country were cheaper than what were made in Punjab and "if the situation remained same for quite some time the entire industry would shift their operation to other places where electricity is better."
On trade with India, the LCCI President said it was a welcome sign but the government would have to facilitate the business community to enable it to cope with a bigger economy, adding the LCCI had conveyed its concerns about the non-tariff barriers (NTBs) by the India that needed to be addressed as those NTBs were hitting hard Pakistani businessmen.