Huge investment on the way as PM finalises deals with Chinese firms

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday held meetings with a number of representatives of major Chinese companies, paving the way for billions of dollars worth of Chinese investment into the country.

The prime minister arrived in Beijing on Thursday to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and meet the Chinese leadership.

As per the official handout, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), a subsidiary of Sinomach, will set up Pakistan-China Agricultural Science and Technology Transferring Centre on government-to-government aid basis.

It said that the Centre will offer agricultural mechanisation cooperation for improving the yield of various crops and quality of seeds. The company has also expressed interest in establishing an onshore LNG storage facility with a regasification terminal.

Read more: PM Imran’s China trip to give fresh fillip to CPEC

It said that a low carbon recycling park for steel metal and paper processing for export purposes will be established at Gwadar Free Zone, having a capacity of 13.4MT per annum.

The handout said that the targeted investment under the project is $4.5 billion and is expected to get implemented in two to three years. The project will also generate 40,000 jobs.

It said that the Zhengbang Group has signed an MoU with Fauji Fertilisers Company (FFC) for the production of pesticides and cattle and poultry feed, adding that the group also plans to jointly develop corporate farming for growing corn and soya beans for export purposes.

According to the statement Royal Group plans to set up Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) free dairy buffalo farm project with an investment of $50 million. The group envisages developing four large scale buffalo farms with 8,000 heads for 16 million litres annual milk production capacity.

They also plan to construct a buffalo milk deep processing plant with an investment of $30 million. "The proposed project will produce value-added dairy products such as milk powder, cheese and packaged milk for local market and export purposes."

The statement added that a buffalo embryos laboratory will also be established to improve Pakistani buffalos’ genetics for increasing their milk yield.

Also read: World cannot afford another Cold War: PM Imran

Providing further details, the statement said that Challenge Fashion has purchased 100-acre additional land to establish a special economic zone of world standards value-added apparel including cluster of supply chains with an investment of $250 million. The proposed project would produce exports of $400 million annually and will employ 20,000 people.

It said that China Road and Bridge Construction Company (CRBC) in collaboration with the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) will develop Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone (KCCDZ).

With an investment of $3.5 billion, the proposed project will be developed and constructed in an area of 9.3 square kilometres and will be built in the functional blocks including Binhai, Ecological Bay, Knowledge City and Global Blue Diamonds Island.

"The project will create thousands of new jobs and would emerge as a hub for tourism, IT, fashion, media, finance, ports and shipping services."

The statement said that Neusoft Medical Systems plans to focus on upgrading Medical Diagnostic Equipment (MDE), AI, academic and national service network setups with an investment of $30 million in Phase-I.

"Neosoft will further set up assembly plant of MDE in SEZ and STZ with an investment of $170 million."

According to the statement, Hunan SunWalk Construction Group has signed an MoU with a private telecommunication company to lay an optical fibre cable network of around 100,000 kilometres in all major cities of Pakistan with an investment of $2 billion.

It said that Flourishtech has signed an MoU with STZA and plans to set up a research lab for mobile phone parts, manufacturing and assembly in STZA, Islamabad for OPPO, RealMe, VIVO and OnePlus.

The handout stated that Global Semiconductor Group plans to establish a semiconductor testing facility in addition to a research and development and skills development training centre with an investment of $40 million. The project is expected to employ 100,000 IT professionals.

Letin Autos NAV E-vehicles (Pvt) limited intends to establish a production plant for electrical vehicles including manufacturing, fabrication and assembly in Rashakai Industrial Zone, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Shaukat Fayyaz Tarin, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Planning Minister Asad Umar, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood, SAPM on CPEC Affairs Khalid Mansoor, National Security Advisor Dr Moeed Yusuf and senior officials of the government of Pakistan.