KARACHI: The federal government on Friday sought assistance and co-operation of the provincial government to establish an industrial park on 1,500 acres of Pakistan Steel Mill land under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Caretaker Federal Minister for Commerce, Industries & Board of Investment Gohar Ejaz Khan held a meeting with caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar at CM House and formally sought his assistance for the execution of the project which was originally conceived by the then government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in 2017.

Sources said that the project of a state-of-the-art industrial park on the PSM land, named Karachi Industrial Park, was originally approved in 2017 by the then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and 1,500 acres of the PSM land was allocated for it. However, no substantial work was carried out on the project and finally it was approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on June 4, 2021.

The PSM is spread out over an area of 18,660 acres, including 10,390 acres for the main plant, 8,070 acres for the township and 200 acres for the 110 MG water reservoir.

Minister Gohar Ejaz discusses long-delayed project with CM Baqar

The sources said that the Chinese authorities had shown their interest in early development of the industrial park on the PSM land with the federal industries minister during his recent visit to China.

They said that that the Chinese industrialists wanted to relocate their industries to different economic zones in Pakistan under CPEC. They said a range of various industries including steel, auto and allied, pharma, chemical, printing and packaging, garments, etc, would be established in the industrial park.

A statement issued from the CM House said that the chief minister and the federal industries minister discussed at length the need for establishment of more industrial parks in the city.

It said the chief minister said that industrialisation was the only solution to develop the economy and create employment opportunities, which opens new vistas of prosperity and uplift.

Chief secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, federal commerce secretary Sualeh Farooqi, Board of Investment chief Sohail Rajput and others were present in the meeting.

The federal minister told the CM that 1,500 acres of land at PSM was allocated for an industrial park and its development was assigned to Chinese authorities under CPEC.

He said that the federal government had prepared a plan to hand it over to Chinese authorities to establish their industrial units.

The chief minister told the federal minister that the provincial government had started the development of the Dhabeji Industrial Zone and the development of another industrial park at Pakistan Steel Mills would be a great move.

Justice Baqar said that the country needed such industrial units which would produce goods only for export. “We need export to earn foreign exchange, otherwise the country would lag behind in the ongoing industrial developments,” he said.

The CM was told that the industrial park at the PSM would create more than one million direct and indirect job opportunities apart from giving a boost to the export of finished goods.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2023