Punjab

Greeks to invest Rs600 million in Disney-esque park

Investment demands tax and duty free regime from Punjab government

Imran Adnan September 06, 2017

PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE: A Greek investment group, LEEAD Consulting, has demanded a duty and tax-free regime from the Punjab government to make an investment of $621 million in a Disneyland-esque amusement park for Lahore, The Express Tribune learnt on Tuesday.

Coordination Additional Commissioner Usman Khalid Khan said that during negotiations, the foreign investment group demanded a status similar to that given to companies investing in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ). Although it is beyond the ambit of the provincial government to offer such duty and tax waivers to foreign investment groups, it has asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for its help.

Disney-esque theme park planned near Lahore

Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) was also been to make a proposal outlining methods by which the Punjab government could facilitate foreign investment groups. Once FBR and PBIT submit their proposals/recommendations, the provincial government will approach Board of Investment (BoI) in Islamabad for a final verdict, Khan indicated.

Considering the volume of foreign investment, he hoped Punjab will remain successful in obtaining permission from the federal government to develop over 600 acres of land for the public park. The project will be executed on a build, own and operate (BOO) model. Initially, the government will provide land for 20 years.

The envisioned multimillion dollar project has several amusement attractions, hotels and business centres that will provide new employment opportunities to thousands of locals. It will have a water aquarium, state-of-the-art rides and a thrilling rollercoaster. It will be established between Sagian and Kot Abdul Malik areas, near River Ravi, while the Parks and Horticulture Authority will be the local executing agency of the project. Earlier in February, representatives of the Greek investment group inspected the project site.

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This sponsor group is the third investment company that has shown interest in a theme park. Initially, a Chinese investment company, Golden Bean, showed interest in the project, but later dropped the idea. Subsequently, another foreign investment house expressed interest, but gave up during early negotiations. However, this time the government has decided not to sign any memorandum of understanding (MoU) with foreign investors, but directly ink the project deal.

LEEAD Consulting has a vast experience of handling and managing mega infrastructure projects of a similar nature. The company has already completed over 250 big projects in over 100 countries across the globe.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2017.

COMMENTS (2)

Baligur | 7 years ago | Reply @Faisal The way the global financial system is structured developing countries like Pakistan have to pay for their imports using hard currency that they can't print themselves i.e. dollars, euros and so on. Pakistan runs a trade deficit with the rest of the world so we need to finance our imports via non-trade forex inflows. Foreign investment is one of those ways we can finance our imports. Unfortunately we get very little foreign investment because our country has a poor reputation abroad. So we have to offer foreign investors incentives to invest in our country. We are also competing with other developing countries to attract foreign investment. Foreign investors can choose between many different countries when deciding where to invest. Now regarding local investors because of capital controls in the country they have no choice but to invest locally. So there is no point in giving them incentives.

Faisal | 7 years ago | Reply We continuously providing tax free / duty free opportunties to the foreign investors without providing the same opportunities to the local industries. Moreover there is not a single country where our industrialist enjoy the same facilities. Any company/country interested in investin gin Pakistan is more because of the high population levels resulting in higher local consumption of goods & services which is available in only a few countires in the world. It is high tie we tell the international companies (including Chinese) to invest under existing laws and not demand more relaxation from the govt.

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