Gwadar free zone attracts increased investment despite COVID-19

BEIJING, August 8 (APP): The investment in Gwadar Free Zone keeps growing and despite COVID-19 pandemic, four plants and workshops have been completed and will go into operation this year, said Zhang Baozhong, Chairman of Chinese Overseas Port and Holding Company (COPHC).

Furthermore, with 12 new investors’ registration, the number of investors in the free zone in total has reached 56, he said while presenting latest progress of Gwadar, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Saturday.

He informed that through Gwadar Port, the transit trade to Afghanistan has begun for the first time and added, “It’s also the first time that the bagging of DAP fertilizer has been done in Pakistani port, instead of foreign ports. This move alone has created thousands of jobs for the local people.”

The supporting projects including East Bay Expressway, New Gwadar International Airport, China-Pakistan Friendship Hospital, Gwadar Technical and Vocational Institute and Faqueer Colony Middle School extension building are in the progress, some of which even completed earlier than schedule.

Specifically, the long suspending tax incentives issue in Gwadar has been resolved after 14-year suspension and the investment environment has been greatly improved.

Zhang Baozhong who firmly believed in Gwadar’s better tomorrow said that it is the shared wish of the people of China and Pakistan to develop Gwadar into a modern emerging city, so as to lead the economic and social development of Baluchistan as a whole, and to enable the hardworking, kind-hearted and peace loving local people of Baluchistan to enjoy modern life.