IT is really satisfying to note that the present government is giving special importance to the revival of industrialization, which in fact is the way forward to address economic problems of the country as it will not only lead to diversification of our exports but also generate economic activity which will open up many opportunities for the youth. Chairing a meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said the government is giving priority to make Special Economic Zones (SEZs) fully functional at the earliest and provide all the basic amenities including gas, electricity, water and road infrastructure there. He also appointed Chairman Board of Investment Zubair Gilani as a focal person for coordination amongst all the relevant departments in order to ensure provision of all the necessary facilities at the SEZs. Given the importance of these zones, we expect that the resource constraint will not be allowed to further delay their operationalization. The Government should finance the provision of all the utilities to the SEZs as without the provision of necessary infrastructure, these cannot be developed. We expect that the BoI Chairman will do the needful and sit with the gas and power companies as well as other departments at the earliest to ensure provision of all facilities at the land marked for the SEZs. Other key issues including those related to regulatory and enforcement body should also be addressed immediately. Already these zones have faced much delay due to variant reasons and their further delay will only reflect the non-serious attitude on the part of relevant quarters to address the economic problems of the country. Present government has come with the slogan of ease of doing business and maximum investment can be attracted in these zones provided the private sector and the investors are satisfied with the infrastructure developed there which indeed should be according to modern trends. We will ask the Prime Minister to personally and regularly monitor the progress on these industrial zones so that they could be operataionlized without any further roadblock.
