LAHORE, AUG 7 /DNA/ – Razak Dawood Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Saturday visited Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) office to review the progress of state of the art Allama Iqbal Industrial City,the first mega project of the Punjab, under China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC).

Chairman FIEDMC Mian Kashif Ashfaq here today briefing the Advisor said  this project is being executed on fast track basis on the explicit directive of prime minister Imran Khan .He said that the facility of gas,power,water and basic infrastructure, civic centre etc required for new industrial units have been provided.He said federal minister Mian Hammad Azhar Minister Industries Punjab Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal have also issued directives to concerned departments for early timely completion of mage project of national importance.

  He further informed the Advisor that nearly 20 industrial units have started their production which covered one third of land of first phase of Allama Iqbal Industrial city  while remaining will go into operation by the end of year.

He said PM during recent meeting further directed to minimise the time of allotment of industrial plots to foreign and local investors besides all investors must also be facilitated through one window operation.He said this project spread over a tract of 3300 acres of land is being completed on fast track which included furniture city, apparel park,modern business centre and the largest expo centre for displaying Pak made products to attract local and foreign buyers.

Mian Kashif Ashfaq said in line with the transparent policy of the Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, industrial plots are being allotted to export based industries ,imports substitute industries and relocation of local industries. He said PM was optimistic about the future of the country and fully committed to providing best possible package of incentives to foreign and local investors to boost up industrial production to strengthen the national economy which promise better living conditions of poor strata of the society.

He said PM was kind enough to  approve 500 mega watt grid station and 40 mmcf gas to meet the ever in  demands of the industrial units.He said an amount of rupees 7.5 billions has so far been spent on the completion of first phase.

Razak Dawood expressed satisfaction over the pace of development and progress of this project achieved so far and highly appreciated the dedication ,devotion and leadership qualities of Mian Kashif Ashfaq demonstrated in the FIEDMC.

Lahore, AUG 7 /DNA/ – The Pakistan Industrial & Traders Associations Front chairman Mian Nauman Kabir has said that massive fall of rupee value continued to harm the economy, as the cost of deals done by the businessmen with their foreign buyers has increased manifold due to unprecedented plunge of local currency against dollar. Besides increasing exports and controlling imports the government will have to take administrative measures, as a large demand of cash dollars are seen in the market. He said that the rupee has dropped by 7 percent or Rs11 against the dollar during last couple of months.  

Mian Nauman Kabir, in a joint statement with vice chairman Javed Siddiqi appreciated the positive development related to economic indicators, urging the government to control volatility of rupee against the US dollar, as the industrial revival and economic growth is not possible without stability of local currency. He said that Pakistani rupee continued its downward slide against the US dollar, which has appreciated by seven percent against the local currency since May this year, trading at Rs163.5 against the rate of as low as Rs152 in May. In terms of the rupee, the dollar has appreciated by Rs11 since May which shows the exchange rate is not managed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) but it also shows the exchange rate is not stable. 

Mian Nauman said that the end of previous fiscal year with current account deficit was a serious blow to the exchange rate while the fear of higher demand of dollars further exacerbated with the information of the SBP that the county would need $20 billion to repay loans. 

He said that the import bill of $6 billion in June this year was enough to signal the market that demand of dollar was very high but the State Bank’s information that the current account deficit would be two to three percent in FY22 forced the importers to book as much as possible to avoid more appreciation of greenback. 

PIAF Vice Chairman Javed Siddiqi observed that the market-based flexible exchange rate system, resilience in remittances and other factors can help contain the current account deficit in a sustainable range of 2-3 percent of GDP in FY22. He said that the rising of dollar is not logical despite the fact that the State Bank says Pakistan’s external position was at its strongest in 10 years with 0.6pc current account deficit in FY21. He said that the rising instability in Afghanistan has stirred fear within Pakistan that may hurt the normal economic life in the country, motivating people to buy dollars. At the same time, exports to Afghanistan have come down to almost zero level. Formal and informal exports to the country are in the range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion per year. 

Javed Siddiqi said that the fourth wave of Covid-19 is another negative force to depreciate the local currency and shatter the confidence in it. Covid-19 may destabilize the economic growth and ultimately negatively impact the exchange rate. 

ISLAMABAD, AUG 7 /DNA/ – Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) said that Amir Ali Ahmed, Chairman CDA has activated the civic body to undertake many development works in the federal capital and focus on beautification of the city, which is laudable. However, he stressed that the CDA should speed up the pace of work on mega development projects in the federal capital to ease the problems of citizens and facilitate the better growth of business activities.

Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that CDA has started some mega development projects in Islamabad, but the pace of work on them is very slow. He said that the PWD underpass was to be completed by July 2021, but still lot of work is remaining to complete this projectdue to which the citizens are facing serious traffic rush daily on this portion of the expressway. He said that the current pace of work clearly shows that the Koral bridge project would not be completed by December this year. Similarly, the Rawal Dam Chowk Flyover project is to be completed by October this year, but with the current pace of work on this project, it will take more time for completion. He emphasized that the CDA should work with full speed to complete these major development projects to facilitate the citizens and the business community.

Fatma Azim Senior Vice President and Abdul Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI said that the construction work of Islamabad Dry Port road was started after a long period, but for the last many days, this work has been suspended due to unknown reasons. They said that the construction of dry port road is very important to facilitate the traffic flow of heavy duty vehicles including trucks and trailers, but suspension of work on this busy road is creating unnecessary traffic rush. Therefore, CDA should restart the suspended construction of dry port road to facilitate the business community. They said that the development works in industrial area including restoration of streetlights should also be started soon to facilitate the growth of industrial activities while the issue of Nullah in Street No.7 of Sector I-10/3 and KachiAbadis should also be addressed for the facilitation of the business community.