LAHORE, Sept 4: Three proposed garment city projects in Lahore, Karachi, and Faisalabad will be functional in the next 15 months, says commerce secretary Tasnim Noorani.

Speaking at a meeting of the steering committee for the Faisalabad Garment City here Saturday.

Those who attended the meeting included 13 leading garment manufacturers from Faisalabad. The meeting discussed matters relating to the formation of a company to handle the execution of the Faisalabad Garment City project and acquisition of land for the project at length.

Mr Noorani said land for the garment city in Lahore had been acquired on Multan Road. The garment city being set up over 25 acres would be a three to four storey building to house about 25 units. "The factory premises will not be sold, only leased out to the unit owners," he said.

The Export Development Fund (EDF) has approved an amount of Rs1.5 billion for the three garment cities, said the secretary, adding that the establishment of the garment cities would help the local industry benefit from opportunities likely to arise after the abolition of textile quotas from next year.

In response to a question, he said the Chief Executive Officer of each garment city company would also take care of marketing techniques and fashion forecasting beside managing the projects.