Uplift work on Faisalabad's Allama Iqbal SEZ in full swing: CPEC Authority chief

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa has said that the development work on Allama Iqbal Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Faisalabad is in full swing.

He said that the saleable land in the SEZ was 2,276 acres whereas 33% of it has been purchased by 69 investors so far, he wrote on his official Twitter handle on Monday.

He said that 182 acres of land has been purchased by seven foreign investors and several Pakistani and foreign industries have already started the construction work.

The Allama Iqbal Industrial City (AIIC) is the largest among SEZs in terms of area with 3,217 acres. The SEZ has the advantage of being adjacent to the M3-industrial city which comprises a large number of projects including textile, pharmaceuticals, information technology, chemicals automotive, service complex, etc.

The SEZ has great potential for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), employment generation and contribution towards exports.

The government is also planning a 200-acre medical city within the zone, to target medical equipment manufacturing industries for import substitution.

Read more: 88% work on first CPEC hydropower project completed: Asim Bajwa

Apart from the Gwadar Free Zone, a total of nine SEZs are planned under CPEC, including the three priority SEZs in Sindh, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: Dhabeji SEZ, Allama Iqbal Industrial City, and Rashakai Economic Zone.

On Wednesday, Bajwa had said that the 88 per cent work on 720-megawatt Karot Hydropower Project — CPEC's first hydropower project — has been completed.

Located on the Jhelum River on the boundary between Punjab and Azad Kashmir, the project is expected to be completed by April 2022, Bajwa wrote on the micro-blogging social networking site.

He said that the investment in the project amounted to $1,780 million whereas 5,000 local people were directly employed in the construction.