Approximately Rs 18.5 billion will be required to provide electricity to as many as nine special economic zones (SEZs) being established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. The documents presented in a meeting of Senate Special Committee on Project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which are also available with Business Recorder, revealed this. The meeting was held here at the Parliament House on Thursday in the chair of Senator Sherry Rehman.
The documents further revealed that Rs 1.4 billon have already been budgeted in PSDP-2019-20. The initial tranche of Rs 500 million will be released in the first quarter of 2019-20 for construction of grid station at Bin Qasim Industrial Park. The Board of Investment will prioritise the power supply to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
A total demand of electricity is 933.5MW for nine industrial zones while actual requirement is 880.3MW and 53.2MW electricity is available. Similarly total demand of gas is 418.5 mmcfd while actual required gas is 393.5 mmcfd whereas 25 mmcfd is available.
About the incentives for investors in SEZs, the documents explained as: for Developer; (i) one time custom duties exemption on plant and machinery, (ii) and income tax exemption for 5 years; for Zone Enterprises, (i) one-time custom duties exemption on plant and machinery, (ii) and income tax exemption for 10 years for units starting production by 30-06-2020 and 5 years for the units starting production thereafter.
About general incentives; (i) gas, electricity and other utilities will be provided at the zero-point of the zones, (ii) and captive power generation permissible to developers of the zones.
About the progress on Bin Qasim Industrial Park Karachi, the total electricity demand of Bin Qasim Industrial Park (BQIP) is 128MW. K-Electric would prepare the PC-I in consultation with National Industrial Park (NIP) and submit it to Power Division for technical evaluation by 30th August 2019 and further processing for approval. To meet the electricity demand of Hattar Special Economic Zone, PESCO will prepare the PC-I in consultation with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zone Development Company (KPEZDMC). The PC-I would be forwarded to Ministry of Energy by 30th August 2019 for processing.
The Senate Special Committee on Project of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in its meeting was told that the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms and the Ministry of Finance have not shared any documents with IMF on CPEC and its financial uptakes and deficits in balance of payments.
The committee chairperson observed that the IMF administration has been quoted as saying that some information has been shared with the IMF and this assurance by the government is in stark contradiction of the other version. The minister, however, responded that the ministry's written response has been submitted to the committee and it is shared with full responsibility denying sharing of any documents with the IMF.
While giving a briefing on labour capacity building, training programmes and initiatives under the CPEC projects, the committee was assured by National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) that division-wise disintegration of the labour force requirement and the technical training opportunities will be provided to the committee by Friday (today).
The members of the committee had a general opinion that work on CPEC projects is not going on at a pace that is the need of the hour.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Khusro Bakhtyar replied that delay is felt due to misalignment of priorities as to which work needs early management and this government has realigned a number of projects in this regard.
The committee chairperson observed that Gwadar Master Plan has now become a bone of contention as it is still in the stage of evaluation of the initial report by the consultant. She said that the committee is more than willing to support the government but at least there should be some timelines on the work progress. The minister told the committee that the progress on Gwadar Master Plan will be made public most probably by the end of August.
The committee also had on its agenda a project-wise briefing on the estimated cost, completion timeline and expected poverty alleviation impact of 16 fast track projects. Representatives from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan governments gave the briefing on the agricultural, health, water, electricity and educational projects in the respective provinces.
The committee recommended including more water related projects before sending it to the Chinese side for approval and decided to hear from the provinces once the approvals are granted and work is about to be initiated. The Higher Education Commission also briefed the committee on their projects of introducing smart classrooms in universities and colleges of the country. The committee deferred the briefing on SMEs and SEZs along with CPEC route due to the absence of official concerned and decided to move a motion of privilege if the same attitude persists.
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