ISLAMABAD-A parliamentary committee was informed on Tuesday that around $820 million investment in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) would be completed within two years.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Board of Investment (BOI) appreciated the efforts of the ministry to encourage the business activities in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) by giving incentives in terms of exemption on Import duty of machinery and tax exemption for 10 years in order to bring foreign investment in the country. A meeting of the Standing Committee on Board of Investment (BOI) was held at Parliament House, Islamabad under the Chairmanship of Dr Zulfiqar Bhatti, MNA.
The secretary, Ministry of Board of Investment briefly apprised the committee about the steps taken by them to improve the business activities in special economic zones of the country. He stated that the government has formulated uniform policies for both public and private sectors and declared 9 sites for CPEC Special Economic Zones. The committee was further informed that the minimum area required in the special economic zone is 50 acres besides their plan of investment for consideration by the board. The committee directed the ministry to establish a training institute in special economic zones for training of labour, skilled persons as it was found that language barriers create hurdles in communication. It was informed that around $820 million investment in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) would be completed within two years.
The committee was apprised that the federal cabinet in its meeting held on 07-07-2020 decided to allocate Sector F-12 and G-12 Islamabad to Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA). The quota allocated for federal employees in these sectors is 40 percent, whereas for the general public is 20 percent, for land owners is 25 percent, and 15 percent was reserved for overseas Pakistanis. The committee was further informed about the challenges in development of sectors G-12, F-12 and F-13, and outlined the perils of development of urban slums due to encroachment. The consultant of the project informed that initial investment would be made through PPO Mode in which the Saudi group agreed to make investment in the project; however, the case of acquisition of land of Sector G-12 and F-12 is subjudice in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The committee directed the secretary M/o Board of Investment to coordinate with CDA and FGEHA to analyse the proposal and set out a transparent mechanism, in alignment with PEPRA rule, for public-private partnership for investment in this project and report back to the committee. Besides the official of the ministry, the following MNAs, Ms Farukh Khan, Ms Shahida Akhtar Ali, Mr Nawab Sher, Ms Asiya Azeem attended the meeting.