KARACHI: Mr. Nasir Khan, VP FPCCI, has said that the establishment of new industries and expansion of the existing ones are being seriously hampered by the unproductive speculative trading in the dedicated industrial real estate across Pakistan in EPZs and SEZs.
He was speaking after his meetings at Governor House, Sindh. He also met and conveyed his concerns in writing to Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Federal Minister for Industries and Production.
Mr. Nasir Khan added that the government must intervene immediately and impose restrictions on real estate buying and selling for profiteering and make sure that industrial plots are only reserved for setting up industries and nothing else.
Mr. Nasir Khan expressed his profound dissatisfaction that there have been announcements for Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for Balochistan over the past 20 years by various successive governments; but, nothing concrete on the ground has been achieved. He maintained that he does not blame the current government alone for the delays.
Mr. Nasir Khan has also recommended devising regulatory and statutory mechanisms for protecting the industrial land; along with offering industrial plots to genuine industrialists on nominal rates through well-defined binding terms and conditions.
Above-mentioned measures will bring FDI and attract private-sector investments – and, will result in industrialization, import substitution, economic growth, and employment generation, he added.
