The Approvals Committee (AC) for the Board of Investment (BOI) approved applications for eight Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Punjab and Sindh to bring in Rs. 507.13 billion in investments.
The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for the Board of Investment and Special Initiatives Chaudhary Salik Hussain with federal ministries, provincial governments, provincial BOIs, and representatives of the private sector as well as senior officers, including BOI Secretary Asad Rehman Gilani in attendees.
The approved SEZs include two multi-industry SEZ proposals from Sindh Dhabeji SEZ Thatta, SITE Larkana, and three from Punjab DWP Innovation Park by DWP Group in Kasur, Smart SEZ of Habib Rafiq Group in Sheikhupura, and Sundar Green SEZ by Bin Arif Industries in Lahore.
It also includes sole enterprise SEZ proposals for Armstrong ZE Tyres in Thatta, the establishment of Ombre (Outfitters) in Lahore, and Sapphire Chemicals Limited in Khushab. SEZ Committees have also been constituted for expedited operations of these zones.
These approvals are projected to generate Rs. 507.13 billion in investments and an estimated 74,000 job opportunities while three of these will be built in under-developed areas and all will be developed privately by Dhabeji SEZ and SITE Larkana.
The Federal Minister commended the achievement of government officials in enabling these investments and spoke on the importance of robust enforcement to follow the commitments promised by the promoters and realize the investment in a timely manner
BOI Secretary also lauded the efforts by SEZ Authority (SEZA) to bring investments in these challenging times and said that BOI is only facilitating and nothing else and expected the collaboration between the two entities to continue. Special Assistant to Chief Minister Government of Sindh on Investment, Qasim Naveed Qamar also attended the meeting.
The committee devised approval for Zone Regulations for Challenge Fashion SEZ and Standardized Template of Development Agreement to be signed among zone developers while it also agreed on proposing a special secretariat for SEZs in the BOI.
SEZA also notified the committee on the updated status of development on the existing SEZs with considerable progress after the digitization of processes and elimination of hindering real-estate activities.
