Lahore: Board of Investment is said to be formulating a long-term plan to extract maximum benefits from China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and raise foreign direct investment (FDI) for infrastructural development to $250b.
On the FDI front, Pakistan has faced decreasing level of inflows which touched $2.4b during 2016-17, considering it was only $900m in 2014-15, registering a two-fold increase over the course of two years, said a local newspaper report.
BOI Director Zulfiqar Ali said CPEC would be of immense benefit and help Pakistan in attaining the FDI figure of $250b, although the journey was very long, he shared.
While talking to journalists on Wednesday, Ali said “The project has huge scope and just the amount of toll tax generated by utilizing CPEC routes could generate revenues three times more than the current national budget by 2030.”
He commented employment and revenues generated by operational Special Economic Zones (SEZs) would be of immense benefit.
Ali added that CPEC provided a ripe opportunity for Pakistan to jump into the bandwagon of industrialization which hasn’t been witnessed since 1960’s. While highlighting the significance of CPEC for both Pakistan and China, he said travelling times from Gwadar port to Jaboti sea port in Africa would be reduced to five days.
Highlighting the benefits of CPEC, he said early-harvesting projects of energy from it were now starting to contribute electricity to the national grid. Infrastructural and energy projects under CPEC are expected to be completed by 2020, followed by mid-term ones in 2025 and long-term ones by 2030.
