President of Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) Shah Faisal Afridi has said that the proposed "New Economic City" project would prove to be the island of economic transformation if executed in true spirit. He stated this while speaking at a joint visioning session held at the Pak China Joint Chamber, here on Thursday that was also attended by a delegation from the Planning and Development Department.
The delegation visited the Chamber to exchange views regarding the proposed project that has been approved by the government and being started under the auspices of the Urban unit of Punjab Planning and Development Department. The delegation was comprised Samita Khawar, Director Public Sector and Government Practice, Ali Agha, Project Manager, Nadeem Khursheed, Senior Urban Planning Specialist and Chinese Consultants Richard Wang and Jermaine Liao, who were especially hired for the project of New Economic City.
Other dignitaries present in the discussion were Saleh M Ameen, Chief Executive Officer Watts Engineering Services, Khawaja Waheed, Director Watts Engineering Services and Moazzam Ghurki, Chief Executive Officer Intuit Pvt Ltd. Afridi acknowledged the project and said that by isolating economic and social reform to this model economic city, the government hopes to create controlled "islands of change" that will develop liberal ideas from rest of the country. He suggested that the project should be linked with CPEC so as to shape it up as a logical dry port of Gwadar.
He said that Chinese investors would become active players into the project, as there is a vast scope of industrial relocation in sectors such as textile, construction material and machinery, food, livestock, dairy, mineral and gemstones, handicrafts, insurance and many more from China.