Prime Minister Imran Khan lays foundation stone of Pakistan’s first Special Economic Zone under CPEC

Prime Minister Imran Khan performed the groundbreaking of Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Faisalabad on Friday, January 3rd, 2020. He said many Chinese enterprises are eager to relocate their industries and Pakistan has yet to offer the atmosphere matching with that of the Special Economic Zones in China. The Allama Iqbal Industrial City is a mega CPEC project of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) located on Motorway M4 at Sahianwala Interchange Faisalabad. It is projected that Faisalabad SEZ would create 300,000 employment opportunities. China will invest Rs 125 billion and Pakistan will spend Rs 35 billion in the Allama Iqbal Industrial Estate. It will be built in nine phases and the first phase would be operational in year 2021. Pharmaceutical and steel’s manufacturing units would be established in the M3 SEZ which is covering an area of approximately 3200 acres. The Allama Iqbal Industrial City SEZ in Punjab would be the first among top three prioritized zones out of total nine SEZs.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the country’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) will provide Chinese industries the requisite environment to relocate to Pakistan.

“There are many industries that wish to relocate from China. We had yet to provide them the environment for them to relocate to Pakistan. This special economic zone is that environment that China seeks,” said the prime minister.

“China’s Premier Li has said clearly that if we provide them the environment, they will push Chinese industries to Pakistan.

“They will not only invest in Pakistan, but transfer technology and increase our productivity,” said the premier.

The premier’s remarks came after he performed the groundbreaking of the state-of-the-art Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Faisalabad.

The industrial city, meant for housing foreign and local investors besides giving impetus to economic activities in the country, is a mega project of the Special Economic Zone of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Earlier, the premier inaugurated the first shelter home in Faisalabad as part of the government’s Panahgah initiative.

He was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. The premier toured the shelter home to review the facilities being provided by the government to homeless people and received a briefing by the administration. He also ate lunch at the shelter home.

PTI Minister Asad Umar, who was also at the inauguration, said that he and the prime minister both liked the aloo gosht at the shelter house. “The prime minister said it was cooked better than at the Prime Minister House,” he said.

Prime Mini­ster Imran last week had directed the chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to take steps to provide temporary shelters and food to every person in their respective province in the wake of extreme and harsh cold weather.

“Given the extremely cold weather conditions, I have asked CMs of Punjab and KP to ensure that no person is left out without a shelter; and their administrations must take immediate action to provide temporary shelters plus food for those who cannot be accommodated in existing Panah­gahs (shelter homes),” wrote the prime minister on his official Twitter account.