The government will hand over the Karachi Industrial Park to China in a bid to revive SEZs

• A 1,500-acre project will be developed on steelworks land.
• The federal government is considering dismantling the existing steel mill structure.
• KIP is one of the nine SEZs developed across Pakistan under CPEC.
  

Islamabad: A strategy to revitalize the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is in the works as the government is piloting it to hand over the Karachi Industrial Park (KIP) to China, The News reported on Sunday.

A senior government official told the publication that KIP, which is one of the nine SEZs being developed across Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is being developed on the defunct Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) land.

The 1,500-acre project will be developed on the 19,000-acre steelworks land.

Islamabad is considering dismantling the existing steel plant structure, while the Sindh government has allocated 700 acres to establish a new state-of-the-art steel plant on the same site.

Officials said the transition to Chinese hands would set a precedent to make Pakistan’s SEZs more attractive to investors by incorporating international standards and practices.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has already approved this initiative aimed at enhancing investor-friendliness of SEZs by adopting global best practices, he said.

During a recent meeting, Federal Minister for Investments Abdul Aleem Khan, who heads the Focus Group on Industrial Zones, highlighted the key challenges faced by SEZs, including inadequate infrastructure and insufficient political support.

“To enable industrial growth and economic progress, SEZs need tailored incentives and operational overhaul,” Khan said, calling for quick reforms.

Currently, Pakistan is home to 21 notified SEZs across the country, each designed to attract a range of investment opportunities.

Important hubs include Bin Qasim Industrial Park, Korangi Creek Industrial Park and Khairpur SEZ in Sindh. Hattar SEZ in Haripur. and Rashakai SEZ in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as M3 Industrial City, Value Addition City and Quaid-e-Azam Business Park in Punjab. Additional SEZs are also located in Punjab, Balochistan and Islamabad with the National Science and Technology Park, providing ample growth prospects.