KARACHI: Sindh’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have attracted an investment of around Rs50 billion of investment with roughly Rs34 billion of investing solely in the 930-acre Bin Qasim Industrial Park (BQIP).
And the remainder of the Rs16 billion of the investment went to SEZs in Khairpur Special Economic Zone (KSEC) and Korangi Creek Industrial Park (KCIP), reports Express Tribune.
Also, Rs15 billion of investment in BQIP has been made by Kia-Lucky Motors which already has commenced operations with completely built units (CBU) and will start manufacturing Kia cars soon.
Sindh Board of Investment Director Projects Abdul Azeem Uqaili said in the SEZs, entities received three things which include a ten-year income tax holiday, second, they don’t require to pay duty on plant and machinery imported to establish a manufacturing unit.
And lastly, infrastructure and utilities are at their doorsteps, said Mr Uqaili.
Furthermore, two more SEZs have been recommended to be established, one is the Dhabeji SEZ which comes under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and will be setup over 1,500 acres land and the other is a 300-acre Marble City.
Sindh has been attracting investment due to CPEC for establishing road infrastructure, however, the province has suffered a setback in losing two big investors namely Hyundai and Renault.
Renault and Hyundai had initially planned to setup their plants at BIQP but moved their investments to the Faisalabad Special Economic Zone (FSEZ), the Faisalabad Industrial Estate and Development Company (FIEDMC).
According to SBI’s chairperson Naheed Memon, bureaucratic impediments were to be blamed for the two big investors to choose Faisalabad instead of Karachi.
Ms Memon said if Lucky Cement had set-up their Kia plant at BIQP, there was no reason for others to move away.
SBP chairperson said the reason for Al-Futtaim (Renault’s partners) to shift their investment to Faisalabad was due to them having an issue in registering the land in the company’s name.
She added, it was because the land came into the steel mills’ area.
“There is this loophole and (former) Punjab chief minister offered them cheaper land and available utilities. That was the reason for abandoning the idea of working in Sindh,” said Ms Memon.
And Ms Memon shared she had asked auto-part manufacturers to come forth and take around 15 acres of land at the Dhabeji SEZ and help small and medium-scale manufacturers.
