Islamabad: The government has planned to initiate the Faisalabad Special Economic Zones (SEZ) —developed under the auspices of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — before December 31 of this year, according to news sources. In addition, they plan on breaking ground for two more SEZs within the tax year 2019-20 — one at Rashakai and another at Dhabeji.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reform, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has instructed the authorities to expedite the development work being conducted on the three SEZs; in order to break ground on each project by the pre-set deadlines.
The minister also chaired separate meetings to review the progress of the initiatives launched under CPEC and the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The meeting was attended by the Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan and other senior officials of the ministry.
Minister Umar received a detailed briefing on the PSDP funded projects. He noted that in recent months, the process to release funds for the project had been made more convenient, and the line ministries had been granted greater independence in how they could use their development budgets. Additionally, he advised that the departments should use this opportunity to ensure that projects were completed on time, from now on.
The minister went on to stress on the effective evaluation and monitoring of the projects in question; in order to execute them in a smooth and timely manner. He also asked for innovative funding mechanisms to finance infrastructural projects.
In a separate meeting, Minister Umar was appraised about the on-going, under-development, and completed CPEC projects and he expressed his satisfaction with their progress so far.
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