A meeting chaired by Provincial Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal to review the performance of Punjab Industrial Estates Development and Management Company (PIEDMC) was held at Civil Secretariat on Thursday.
Attendees of the meeting included Secretary Industries Wasif Khurshid, CEO PIEDMC Ali Moazzam Syed, CEO PIBT and others. PIEDMC’s Chairman Syed Nabeel Hashmi addressed the meeting and briefed about the company’s performance and the future road map.
The minister said that a result-oriented strategy had been formulated to speed up industrialization. The colonization of industrial estates would bring in a new era of industrial development, he added.
He instructed for the adoption of a uniform policy for the expansion project of Sundar Industrial Estate, adding that construction of link roads should be included in the annual development programme.
Mian Aslam Iqbal ordered to undertake all necessary measures that were required for the colonization of the industrial estates. The law department may also be consulted in case of any amendments in the relevant rules, he added.
The minister asked PIEDMC to expedite the colonization process along with PIBT and also present a report about its past performance as well as its future road map.
QBP- PIEDMC’s much-anticipated SEZ
PIEDMC 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.
Read More: QABP – M2 Interchange and Multipurpose Complex inauguration
The keenly awaited Quaid e Azam Business Park (QABP) is also being developed by PIEDMC. QBP, a large industrial state, spread over 1536 acres of land once completed as per its envisaged master plan and business concept, can attract investments of around Rs 250 billion. This modern industrial state enjoys the status of a special economic zone (SEZ) and is said to have the capacity to generate two hundred and fifty thousand new jobs for skilled and unskilled workers. The Industries Department of the Punjab Government is especially keen on getting QABP completed as soon as possible to stimulate business and investments across Pakistan’s largest province – to offset the earlier stagnation caused by corona pandemic.
QABP will also be receiving its own interchange connecting it with Motorway M-2. The inauguration of work for this interchange was expected in the first week of January, however, the Covid-19 pandemic which has impacted all facets of Pakistan’s economy in two separate phases disrupted the plans, and the inauguration had to be postponed. In December, Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, himself became ill with coronavirus. He has now recovered and it is anticipated that the inauguration which got delayed because of his unavailability would take place very soon.