AJK development plan to woo investors

Chamber firms up proposals to revive sick units, accelerate industrialisation.

MIRPUR:

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AJKCCI) has drawn up an integrated and phased industrial development plan, in coordination with the AJK government, in an effort to encourage and promote local and foreign investment, especially by UK-based Kashmiri expatriates.

Newly elected AJKCCI President Dr Muhammad Akram Chaudhry told the media here on Monday the chamber had sent recommendations to the government, which also involved a strategy for early revival of over 80 sick industrial units in Mirpur and Bhimbher districts and speeding up industrialisation in both the districts as well as other parts of the region.

In response to the proposals, he said, the AJK government assured the chamber that it would encourage foreign investment and had already set aside massive funds in the budget for financial year 2011-12.

Chaudhry said the AJKCCI also sought necessary facilities and financial assistance for intending foreign entrepreneurs to help them set up industrial concerns.

He cited hydropower generation, mineral resources and tourism as areas which held big potential for investors. An international investment conference is also expected to be held in the near future in Mirpur to highlight the industrial development plan, powered mainly by foreign investment.

To a question, the AJKCCI president said the government was particularly paying attention to promoting industrial activities, including revival of sick units, in Mirpur and Bhimbher districts in an attempt to provide more job opportunities to unemployed skilled and unskilled people.

The chamber also underlined the need for constituting a high-level committee comprising officials of the chamber as well as finance, taxation and power departments to know about the problems faced by the corporate class.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2011.