The proposed economic city near Lillah Interchange along Motorway (M-2) is expected to generate huge economic activity during its construction phase, said Ali Agha, Manager New Economic City Development Project of the Urban Unit Punjab. He was addressing a briefing in board room of FCCI, here on Friday. He said that initially 10 new cities had been proposed to fully capitalise the economic benefits of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The first city has been proposed near Lillah which will sprawl over 600 kilometers in the close vicinity of river Jhelum and mines of coal and other precious metals. He said that no planned city was developed after Islamabad and the unrestricted migration from rural to urban areas had complicated the civic issues in almost all major cities of the province.
According to an estimate 20 million populations will migrate from rural to urban centers within next couple of years if government failed to set up new planned cities offering all basic amenities and fully catering to the social needs of the people. He told that Chinese investors had already signed agreement to set up new power generation plants by using local coal which has been successfully converted into industrial grade. He said one of the biggest dry port has also been proposed to exploit the economic potential of CPEC.
Earlier, Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz, President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) appreciated the proposed economic city and hoped that it would not only gear up pace of economic activities in this underdeveloped area but also catalyse industrial and business activities throughout this province.
He demanded world class infrastructure for this proposed city with minimum five year tax holiday to incentivize investors to set up industries in this city. He also stressed the need for reliable connectivity between Sialkot, Wazirabad, Gujranwala and Faisalabad so that the need of skilled workers of this city could be fulfilled.