Govt plans to establish IT Special Economic Zones in Islamabad

To provide business and employment opportunities to the skilled workers, the government is planning to establish Information Technology (IT) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Islamabad.

Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, Secretary Board of Investment (BOI) said that there are two places proposed for the IT zone in the capital and the government has not yet decided where they are going to build the IT park. For that purpose, the National Industrial Parks (NIP) which is a development and management company, is given the task to develop the planned Information Technology park in the capital of Pakistan.

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The secretary BOI said that it is a priority of the government to build SEZs in Islamabad along with three other cities including Hattar (Haripur), Faisalabad and Rashakai (Nowshera). The purpose behind building these IT zones in the country is to facilitate international and local investors and to generate more revenue. He also said that the government is expecting major foreign investment in the coming five years from Energy, Automobile and Agriculture sector.

He further added; “We expect more investment from 5 countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China) to flourish the businesses and economy of the country.” ‘The government will have priority to initiate the business to business relations for connecting the local business community with international investors for Joint Ventures (JVs)”.

The secretary BOI said, “Malaysia would provide an opportunity to give us the way to the potential market of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)”.

He said that the government is making efforts to take Pakistan’s business ranking from number 136 to under 100 in coming years for enhancing the foreign investment.

These special economic zones are part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a joint venture between Pakistan and China to promote cooperation and business growth between the countries. It was previously announced that under CPEC, around 29 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) will be established in four provinces of Pakistan.