Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry leading a 45-member business delegation visited the SEZs of Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) to explore industrial cooperation and investment opportunities. Vice President ICCI Abdul Rehman Khan, Founder Group Chairman Mian Akram Farid, Khalid Javed, Tariq Sadiq, Nasir Qureshi, Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi, Nasir Khan, Shaban Khalid, Zafar Bakhtawari, Chaudhry Waheed ud Din, Karim Aziz Malik, Iftikhar Anwar Sethi, Mahmood Warraich, Shakeel Munir, M. Javed Iqbal, Umar Hussain, Mehboob Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Shakir, Usman Khalid, Naeem Siddiqui, Mian Arif Hussain, Tahir Ayub and others were in the delegation.
Chairman FIDMC Mian Kashif Ashfaq arranged the visit of ICCI delegation to SEZs being constructed under CPEC including Allama Iqbal Industrial City and M3 Industrial City. Aamir Saleemi, Chief Executive Officer, FIEDMC and other officers were also present. The delegation also visited the Ittehad Steel owned by ICCI former President Khalid Javed and Honda Assembly plant in Faisalabad to see their production activities.
Speaking at the occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that under the leadership of Mian Kashif Ashfaq, Chairman FIEDMC, international standard infrastructure and services were being provided in SEZs which was commendable and added that these SEZs were providing an ideal environment for investment. He said that Pakistan needed an industrial revolution to get rid of the debt burden and achieve sustainable economic development for which the establishment of more such modern SEZs across the country was very important. He hoped that FIEDMC SEZs would attract local and foreign investment and make a significant contribution towards the economic stability of the country. He said that ICCI was working with Federal and Punjab governments for a new industrial estate in Islamabad and hoped that FIEDMC would cooperate by sharing its expertise and experience in developing it on modern lines. He said that some members of ICCI delegation have shown interest to make investment in FIEDMC’s SEZs. He assured that he would try to bring a delegation of foreign diplomats from Islamabad to FIEDMC to show them the investment potential in its SEZs so that they could encourage investors of their respective countries to invest here. He said ICCI would also open a Facilitation Desk of FIDMC to brief the prospective investors and visiting foreign delegations about investment potential in SEZs of FIEDMC.
Founder Group Chairman Mian Akram Farid and former President ICCI Khalid Javed also lauded the quality development in FIEDMC’s SEZs and said that the government should construct similar types of SEZs in other parts of the country including Islamabad. Khalid Javed said that he has already set up an industrial unit in Allama Iqbal Industrial City and was fully satisfied with the facilities and services of FIEDMC.
In his address, Chairman FIEDMC Mian Kashif Ashfaq welcomed the ICCI delegation and said that FIEDMC was ready to provide a separate cluster of 200 to 300 acres in Allama Iqbal Industrial City to ICCI members for setting up industrial units. He said that in the cluster, all the required facilities will be provided to investors as per their needs on priority basis. He further said that the development work in Allama Iqbal Industrial City was in full swing and five major industrial units have already started construction of their production plants. He said that investors of this economic zone would be provided cheaper electricity than the market rate from next year. He said that even at present 5 MW power was being supplied to Allama Iqbal Industrial City which will soon be increased by another 20 MW while NTDC and NEPRA have provided 500 MW of power directly to FIEDMC. He said that a utility services center was being set up in Allama Iqbal Industry City for the convenience of investors where representatives of FESCO and SSGPL will be present to provide electricity and gas connections to the investors and they will not have to visit the head offices of these institutions.