KARACHI, Sept 6: Setting up industrial parks is not a new concept but it will be new for Pakistan, said National Industrial Parks Development and Management Company (NIPDMC) Chief Executive Zubair Habib.

Talking to the members of the Site Association of Industry (SAI) on Monday, he said that an industrial park was an area zoned for a cluster of industries and businesses. He informed them that the NIPDMC was assigned the task to develop an industrial park on 250 acres at the prime location of Korangi Industrial Area.

He said that the proposed Korangi Industrial Park (KCIP) would be a multi-tenant industrial park and its board of directors would have 75 per cent members from the private sector.

Mr Zubair said that the master plan of the KCIP would be ready by April 2006 and allotment would begin after finalization of the master plan, according to an SAI press release.

He further said that the park would be a highly value-added and prestigious estate owing to dedicated industrial production systems, availability of captive power production system, dependable water and gas supply and wastewater and solid waste disposal system.

He said that investment in the proposed KCIP would be welcomed in seven sectors — textiles, finished leather, food, pharmaceuticals, light engineering, information technology, gems and jewellery.

Earlier, SAI Chairman Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig said that the expansion of the Site area had been stopped owing to non-availability of industrial plots. He suggested that plots in the proposed KCIP should be offered to the small- and medium-scale industrialists at cheap rates and on deferred payment basis.

KCCI former president Zubair Motiwala stressed the need for development of infrastructure before handing over the land to the potential industrialists as per WTO conditionalities.