CPEC: Pakistan govt approves Rs 16 billion for 4 SEZs

China Economic Net

Islamabad: Pakistani government has approved Principal Component 1 (PC-1) worth more than Rs 16 billion for provision of gas and electricity to four Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Senate was informed.

The Senate – the Upper House of the parliament – was told that nine SEZs had been identified under the CPEC cooperation of industrial development.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said that out of nine CPEC Special SEZs, four SEZs were at advance stage of development including Rashakai SEZ, Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Faisalabad, Bostan SEZ and Dhabeji SEZ.

He said that other SEZs were including Model ICT SEZ, Islamabad, Pak Steel Mills SEZ, Karachi, Moqpandas SEZ Gilgit Baltistan, Mirpur SEZ, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Mohmand Marble City, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that the government has approved PC-1 worth over Rs16 billion for provision of gas and electricity to the above four SEZs, which are in advanced stage of development.

He said that Rashakai SEZ was being set up at 1000 acres of land and 10 Megawatt (MW) of electricity has been provided in October 2020 as short term arrangement and 50MW to be provided by June 2022, adding that gasification of the zone will be completed by December 2021. The minister said that Rashakai SEZ was a game changer for the Peshawar valley.

In a written reply, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that Allama Iqbal Industrial City, Faisalabad being established at 2,800 acres of land and so far 585 acres of land has been allotted to 24 zone enterprises with planned investment of Rs 136.7 billion, including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of us $ 5.21 million.

While Dhabeji SEZ 1,530 acres finalization of developer was underway and work is in progress for provision of 13.5 MMCFD gas, adding that 5 MW electricity will be provided by December 2021 as temporary connection. For Bostan SEZ (200 acres) 5 MW of electricity will be provided by December 2021 as temporary connection.

An amount of Rs. 731 million approved by the Departmental Development Working Party (DDWP) on first February 2021 and has been allocated in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2021-22 for gasification of the zone and it will be completed in 18 months’ time from release of funds to SSGCL.