41 sites for establishment of SEZs identified, NA body told

Board of Investment on Tuesday informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reforms that a total of 41 sites have been identified for establishment of Special Economic Zones in consultation with all provinces. The committee met with Abdul Majeed Khan Khanan Khail in the chair at Parliament House. The committee discussed the establishment of Special Economic Zones, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor energy projects and a PC-1 of water supply project for Rawalpindi.
Additional Secretary Board of Investment (BOI), Shah Jahan Shah briefed the committee over the development and management of industrial park under the CPEC-incentives given to local & foreigner investors in Special Economic Zones.
He said that Board of Investment has identified 41 sites for the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in consultation with all the four provincial governments, the governments of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Secretariat. He further said that Board of Investment has notified as many as 7 Special Economic Zones so far.
While giving briefing on the incentives given to local & foreign investors in Special Economic Zones, the additional secretary said that there is no difference between incentives given to local & foreign investors in these zones. He said that the government is giving equal incentives to foreign as well as local investors.
He said that the incentives include: one-time exemption from duty and taxes on import of plant and machinery for developers and enterprises; five years tax holiday on income accruable in relation to the development and operation of the SEZ for the developer; and 10 years' tax holiday for enterprises on income accruable in relation to the production/ operations started by 30.06.2020 and thereafter 5 years' tax holiday for enterprises would be admissible.
After detailed briefing by the Board of Investment (BOI), the committee recommended that vocational and technical training centres should also be established in the Special Economic Zones for imparting technical training to the local workers in order to make them able to get jobs in the industries.
The committee was also briefed by Additional Secretary, Ministry of Water and Power, Omer Rasul on the terms and conditions of financing of CPEC energy projects and tariff structure as well. He said that all energy projects under CPEC are in line with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) mode.
The committee urged the quarters concerned to take special care of the environmental implications whenever initiating any energy projects under the CPEC. He said that Chinese companies acquire loan from Chinese banks for the funding of the energy projects. He said that there are energy projects of 17,045MW in the framework of CPEC.
"We would be in a position to add 10,000MW electricity in national grid station by the end of 2017 to overcome the deficit of shortage of electricity. As many as 38 energy projects are in process under the CPEC. China has invested $20 billion on energy projects for generating 10,050MW in 2015", he said.
The committee also expressed its resentment over the Ministry of Defence for not sending PC-1 of Water Distribution Network for RCB/CCB based on Khanpur Dam Water Source (Phase-III), Rawalpindi.
The committee decided to write a letter to Speaker National Assembly Saradr Ayaz Sadiq in this regard. The committee chairman also constituted a four members sub-committee comprising Ch Jaffar Iqbal (convener), Qaiser Jamal, Sher Akber Khan and Malik Ibrar Ahmad. The panel would look into the matter of unnecessary delay in completion of Northern Bypass Peshawar and the issue of Water Distribution Network for Rawalpindi Cantonment Board/Chaklala Cantonment Board based on Khanpur Dam Water Source (Phase-III), Rawalpindi.