In light of this, Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) President Shah Faisal Afridi said that Pakistan should look into the concept of global cities according to the pattern in Shanghai.
Afridi said that Pakistan is entering international markets and becoming a preferred country for foreign investors so there is a dire need to initialise the concept of establishing “Global City” or ‘World City”, which would eventually bring industrial revolution in the country.
He said the concept has been widely used in the past by various southern countries including China to achieve set goals for their economic development.
The term involves vigorous participation of cities in the economic activities of the country. Afridi added that under the concept cities are empowered to broaden their manufacturing horizons and manage to market their outputs and earn capital in order to finance industrial infrastructure and services.
This process of making cities globalised also prevents brain drain and frustration among the youth for not finding jobs appropriate to their qualifications.
“A city developed under this ideology encompasses a highly extensive investment environment that leads to overall economic and social development,” said Afridi.
He suggested that the government should develop integrated industrial estates and industrial parks in a number of regions throughout the country by providing special incentives, infrastructure facilities, security and energy.
He was confident that this idea would promote a bolstered manufacturing sector in specialised areas, which would allow Pakistan to lessen its reliance on imports.
“A good sign is that the government is allocating financial and technical resources to build ports, toll roads and railways to increase connectivity of the industrial areas”
The government’s current plan to build “Techno Parks” for promotion of IT and technology-based industries would also help execute the idea, said Afridi. The PCJCCI chief observed that while globalising the economies, local cities play an important role. He said that Sialkot, Faisalabad, Wazirabad, Gujranwala, Chiniot have great potential to be turned as global cities.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2014.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ