PIEDMC – Punjab Industrial Estates Development & Management Company – is a section 42 company incorporated under Companies Ordinance of 1984. It is an autonomous, not-for-profit entity owned by the Government of Punjab and is run by a Board of Directors (BOD) comprising of private sector industrialists and ex-officio members.
PIEDMC, initially conceived by Jehangir Khan Tareen when he was an advisor to the Pervaiz Illahi government in 2002, in Musharraf era, has proved to be one of the most successful examples of a Public-Private Partnership. Since 2002, its accomplishments in the form of estates like Sundar Industrial Estate, Multan Industrial Estate & QIE serve as successful and completed model projects.
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Four of the PIEDMC’S Industrial Estates have already been declared as SEZs namely Quaid-e-Azam Business Park, Rahim Yar Khan Industrial Estate, Bhalwal Industrial Estate, Vehari Industrial Estate. Soon to be launched Bahawalpur Industrial Estate is in the process of SEZ declaration.
GVS has learnt that initially government of Punjab had lent Rs. 1 billion to PIEDMC around 2002; this was used to purchase marshy land from private owners, at Sundar near Lahore by offering 30% advance payments.
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This land was then sold with development charges (around Rs. 3.5 million per acre at that time) to business investors, and the local owners were paid in full as the cycle continued. Model of this public-private partnership became so successful that funds were saved for the development of another industrial estate at Multan.
Model continued at Rahim Yar Khan, then Bhalwal and then Vehari; all benefited from the same model. We have learnt that PIEDMC ultimately managed to return this Rs. 1 billion loan back to the government with 13% interest (around Rs. 13 crore). No doubt that PIEDMC has emerged as perhaps the most successful model of “Public-Private Partnership” in Pakistan. Who can say that role models don’t exist in Pakistan?
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Bhalwal Industrial Estate
Bhalwal Industrial Estate is located in the best citrus-producing area of the world in District Sargodha. It is 4km from 132KVA Grid Station. A Chinese company Oreal Ceramics has been allotted 37 acres of land for setting up a ceramic manufacturing unit with an investment of US $70 million at the Bhalwal Industrial Estate.
Rahim Yar Khan Industrial Estate (RIE)
Another SEZ declared, Rahim Yar Khan Industrial Estate is rich in wheat, cotton, and sugarcane, mangoes, citrus, dates and has abundant livestock resources. Estate provides state of the art industrial infrastructure to industrialists from all over Pakistan.
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Vehari Industrial Estate (VIE)
Vehari Industrial Estate is developed close to Vehari city. The location is strategically beneficial for the industry as all kinds of skills are easily available. Cheap unskilled labour is also extensively available from Burewala and other adjoining areas.
VIE aims to cater to the industry like textile units, ginning, food processing, handicrafts, shoe industry, artificial jewelry, agro-based industry, warehouses, dairy industry. This industrial estate would prove a game-changer for the development and growth of district Vehari.
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Bahawalpur Industrial Estate (BIE)
Government of the Punjab, with its plans for the development of South Punjab, has planned to launch Bahawalpur Industrial Estate very soon. It will be developed keeping in mind the needs and preferences of the local region/area.
Since, there is no planned industrial estate available in the surrounding areas, the establishment of Bahawalpur Industrial Estate will be a landmark project in order to uplift the overall industry of the region, generating employment for the local residents.