Allama Iqbal Industrial City to be inaugurated on Friday

ISLAMABAD, Jan 02 (APP):First state-of-the-art Allama Iqbal Industrial City, a prioritized project of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) under CPEC will be inaugurated on Friday.

The facility would house foreign and local investors, besides giving impetus to economic activities in the country. Appreciating the economic policies of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq on Thursday said the incumbent government focused on economic growth in the country,” says a press release issued here Thursday.

“With trade and investment being an important pillar of the present government’s foreign policy, there is a positive sentiment among the international community towards the country’s economy, which needs to be tapped,” he added.

Highlighting the development projects of FIEDMC, Ashfaq said around Rs400 billion local and 200 million dollar foreign investment would be be injected into various projects, which clearly indicates that investors have reposed complete confidence in the present regime.

He said Allama Iqbal Industrial City had been planned over an area of 4000 acres, which was strategically located on Motorway M-4 near Sahianwala Interchange, Faisalabad.

He said main boulevard, entrance gate and boundary wall will be completed within six months.
According to the plan, new industrial units of different nature would be constructed in the Allama Iqbal Industrial City. Scattered industrial units were already operating in various congested localities of the city which would also be shifted to this new industrial estate after its completion,” he added.

Mian Kashif said the development projects under FIEDMC was likely to create 300,000 jobs and in order to prepare Pakistani youth to find employment opportunities, FIEDMC was planning to conduct short-term courses to train the aspirants in the respective fields, for which they align their future courses accordingly.

“Unemployment is one of the major challenges which the Pakistani government is facing. According to recent statistics of the World Bank, about 6 percent Pakistanis are unemployed. And to solve this issue, Pakistan needs to create more jobs in the future,” he said, adding the trained and skilled labor and engineers would not only get good jobs in the SEZs, but also enable Chinese and local companies to find skilled professionals from local areas rather than hiring them from other parts of the country.

He further said all industries within the export processing zone would be exempted from tax for a period of 10 years and plants, machinery, raw material and other equipment will be imported duty-free.

The FIEDMC chairman said the importance of CPEC as a strategic alternative was immense, leveraging the economic opportunities that it can unleash its strategic significance and bring prosperity, peace, as well as stability in the whole region. He also said FIEDMC was committed to improve Pakistan’s ease of doing business ranking to under 100 within two years to attract international investors to the country.