With the signing of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreements, a great opportunity has been created which will go a long way in bringing economic prosperity not only to China (as some people claim) but also to Pakistan. Simultaneously, the Government of Pakistan has started to address the problems of the shortage of electricity and gas by encouraging new sources of energy and also the alternate for gas in CNG and LPG.
To reap the benefit, the government should also consider one main problem which is presently being ignored - the problem of transmigration. This problem arises when people, not having jobs close to their villages and towns, move to the larger cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Multan, Faisalabad, etc., and this creates many problems for the city administration to provide basic facilities to these people.
Due to the transmigration, the facilities in the large cities are bursting at their seams and hence proper facilities are not available to the resident public of those cities.
To addresses this problem and also to avail the benefit from the construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the following suggestions are being proposed.
i) Industrial Zones should be setup along the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) at every 100 to 150 miles, which must be provided with electricity and gas.
ii) To encourage investment, tax concessions (no questions asked regarding the source of funds and/or tax exemption for say five years, etc.) be given for those industrial undertaking being setup employing at least 100 persons (labour force) or more.
iii) Housing colonies along with areas for markets and shops also be provided through builders and developers who should make the roads besides the space for accommodation, or small houses. Tax incentives should also be given to them, and easy financing should be provided for purchase of these properties.
iv) Transport facilities be encouraged to provide easy access for people working in those new industrial zones.
v) The government should also encourage small industrial units which are normally referred to as downstream industrial units, to encourage SMEs.
These measures will go a long way in improving economic progress of Pakistan by utilizing the population, as the population in Pakistan is increasing by about 2 percent every year and also reduce the problems being created in large cites because of transmigration.