QUETTA, Jan 26: The first industrial estate of the emerging port city of Gwadar will be functional by the end of the year. Over 1,100 plots have been allotted to industrialists in the estate.

The Balochistan government has earmarked over 3,000 acres of land for the estate and development work was inaugurated by Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousuf.

This would be the biggest industrial estate in Balochistan, Jam Yousuf said on the occasion, adding that Gwadar would play an important role in boosting Pakistan’s economic and industrial hubs.

The government would provide protection to investors and their capital, the chief minister said, adding that he would take up the issue of incentive package for the estate with the federal government.

The project director of the estate, M. B. Magsi, said that in the first phase, a special committee had allotted 1,136 acres of land to industrialists while 455 applications were pending.

He said that development work was under way and seven acres of land had been handed over to the Quetta Electricity Supply Company for construction of a 24-mw grid station. It would cost Rs100 million and get power supply from Iran.

He said that a desalination plant with a capacity of 20 million litres would also be set up to meet the requirements of the industrial estate.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during the recent ground-breaking ceremony had promised that half of the cost of the desalination plant would be met by the federal government and the other half by the provincial government.