Punjab Industrial Estate Development & Management Company (PIEDMC) announced that it would speed up its plot allotment in a move to support rapid industrialization and business activity in the country. This announcement was made in the 145th meeting of PIEDMC board of Directors (BoD) held under its chairman Syed Nabeel Hashmi, and is applicable to all the industrial zones established by PIEDMC. The development will support industrial entrepreneurs spearheading the country’s industrialization drive.
This decision was reported after PIEDMC’s board meeting, the board also decided to introduce a new concessional package for investors buying plots of more than 25 acres in Quaid-e-Azam Business Park (QABP), the flagship project of PIEDMC. PM Imran Khan did a ‘soft’ launch of Quaid-e-Azam Business Park, in Lahore on Saturday, July 18th, 2020 and booking for QABP opened on 20 July, 2020, after which over 300 companies showed interest to set up production units in QABP according to a report presented in a previous board meeting.
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PIEDMC also announced that advisory boards will be set up for QABP and Rahim Yar Khan industrial zones. These advisory boards members would include public representatives and experts from various sectors and will be nominated for one year. PIEDMC Chairman, Syed Nabeel Hashmi also said that these members would serve for industrial development and improvement in both the industrial zones.
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Apart from QABP, PIEDMC has been working on four other industrial estates, three of which have been declared SEZs, i.e. Bhalwal, Rahim Yar Khan and Vehari and the fourth one is soon to be a SEZ, i.e. Bahawalpur Industrial Estate (BWPIE).
BWPIE is said to be the second biggest industrial setup in south Punjab after Multan. BWPIE will support Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of developing the underdeveloped areas of the country. Nabeel Hashmi also thanked Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for turning Punjab as a hub of industrial activities by establishing new industrial estates and economic zones.
In the year 2020 alone PM Imran Khan has approved 13 SEZs to be set up in the country – many of which are in Punjab. Special Economic Zone (SEZ) usually have a lenient economic and tax policy lenient area because they are used to promote industrial growth in a country. It promotes trade, employment, economic growth and attracts foreign investors. China has aggressively used SEZ’s to promote job and industrial development, over 2500 SEZ’s have been created in the country and created over 30m jobs.
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Nabeel Hashmi revealed in an interaction with media that a budget of Rs 1,250 million is required for the completion of BWPIE and a demand has been raised to the Punjab government for the provision of funds. The PIEDMC board also approved a plan for electricity supply to five industrial estates in Punjab including three special economic zones, QABP and Sundar Industrial Estate.
PIEDMC – Punjab Industrial Estates Development & Management Company – is a section 42 company incorporated under Companies Ordinance of 1984. It is an autonomous, not-for-profit entity owned by the Government of Punjab and is run by a Board of Directors (BOD) comprising of private sector industrialists and ex-officio members. Since 2002, its accomplishments in the form of estates like Sundar Industrial Estate, Multan Industrial Estate & QIE serve as one of the country’s best models of public-private partnership not only in Punjab but perhaps all over Pakistan.