LAHORE
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is bringing in 50 mega projects in Pakistan, which will provide innumerable business opportunities to SMEs creating thousands of new jobs, thus curbing poverty and achieving the ultimate goal of economic prosperity in Pakistan.
This has been observed in a presentation compiled by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) for awareness of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry on CPEC.
The presentation discloses that out of 50 projects, 12 belong to infrastructure, 8 to Transport and 21 to the power generation, whereas, the rest of 9 is being set up as Special Economic Zones. According to SMEDA sources, they have launched a move to make the business community aware of the opportunities carried by CPEC.
In this regard, SMEDA teams led by provincial chiefs of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa and Balochistan have started visiting Chambers of Commerce and Industry situated in the respective regions.
A meeting of this series was arranged by SMEDA-Sindh team, at Sukkur Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Provincial Chief Sindh Mukesh Kumar, giving the presentation based upon SMEDA research, informed that CPEC was the world’s largest economic project, which was being set up in Pakistan under China’s Mega Plan “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR).
There are over 50 mega economic projects to be completed in Gwadar and other cities of Pakistan, which will yield a lot of SMEs alongside OBOR and CPEC, SMEDA experts said and urged the SME community, to get prepared for availing of the opportunities emerging under the mega economic development plan being implemented jointly by the governments of Pakistan and China.
Meanwhile, CEO SMEDA Fuad Hashim has urged the provincial offices of SMEDA to expedite the CPEC awareness move and also include the business and trade associations of SME sectors in it, so that the benefits of this mega projects can be transferred down to the grass root level.
