Lahore: Tedious approval procedures have been delaying investments worth nearly USD 7 billion in the cement sector — a news source reported on August 19. During the past 8 months, the number of applications for setting up new cement plants, or for making extensions to existing cement facilities, have increased from 14 to 23 due to delays in the provision of approvals.
These applications have been filed for the development of plants in five districts of Punjab, including Attock, DG Khan, Mianwali, Khushab, and Chakwal. The applications are pending before various state departments, including local government, mines and minerals, and environment protection among others.
As per the experts, setting up a new cement plant or extending one costs between USD 250 million and USD 300 million. The 23 applications that have been delayed due to current approval procedures are worth between USD 5.75 billion and USD 6.9 billion in investments — approximately PKR 1 trillion.
