Punjab to set up Auto Parts Technology Park

Will facilitate auto sector in product design, parts manufacturing and testing

LAHORE:

Punjab Minister for Industries and Commerce Mian Aslam Iqbal has revealed that the government of Punjab is planning to set up Auto Parts Technology Park near Lahore in a bid to support the growing industrialisation.

The new facility will be constructed at the Quaid-e-Azam Business Park, Sheikhupura, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and one of the eight industrial parks working under the Punjab government.

During a meeting with members of the Punjab Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (PIEDMC), Iqbal pointed out that the Auto Parts Technology Park would be established on nine acres of land and it would facilitate the auto sector in terms of product design, training centres, parts manufacturing, testing and allied facilities.

The industrial park is located near Lahore on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway. This project was initiated during the previous government’s tenure with the name of Quaid-e-Azam Apparel Park.

The name was, however, changed during PTI’s tenure and Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the park in July 2020.

The Quaid-e-Azam Business Park would have a combination of different industries including textile, pharmaceutical, plastic, janitorial products, garments, auto parts, cosmetics and cold storage. The minister boasted that the Punjab government had paved the way for an industrial revolution by setting up new industrial zones in the province.

“Colonisation of industrial estates can accelerate economic growth, hence, PIEDMC should focus on colonisation of industrial zones,” Iqbal emphasised. He disclosed that the Sundar Industrial Estate was being expanded to facilitate industrialists and ramp up investment.

The provincial minister gave directive that consultation should be held for preparing the land acquisition model for the extended project and said PC-I of new schemes would be completed by July 15, 2021.

Security of Chinese and other foreign investors should also be improved, he stressed.

Giving instructions for starting development work on the Chunian Aqua Business Park, the minister said that the Bahawalpur industrial estate would be inaugurated after Eid.

Moreover, Sundar-Raiwind and Manga-Raiwind roads would be widened to improve traffic flow in the Sundar Industrial Estate, the minister added.

Auto parts manufacturers said that the country needed such economic zones for the auto sector, but the government should also ensure that the park should not be dominated by Chinese technology only.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2021.

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