'Date processing zone': Saudi businessman not making investment

A foreign investor belonging to Bin Daood family of Saudi Arabia, who had earlier shown interest to establish "Date Processing Zone" in Khairpur Mir's district, has refused to make any investment in view of the deteriorating law and order situation, Business Recorder learnt on Wednesday.
Sources in the Industries and Commerce department told Business Recorder that a foreign investor from the Bin Daood family of Saudi Arabia had shown interest in the establishment of "Dates Processing Zone" in Khairpur Mir's district during his personal visit to Sindh in February 2011. He (the investor) came to Sindh on the invitation of his personal friends, who are political stakeholders in the Sindh Government. He visited Khairpur Mir's, sources told.
Later, he applied to Industries and Commerce department formally for the lease of land in the proposed Khairpur Special Economic Zone. Soon after, however an incident of firing on the Saudi Consulate in Karachi created a sense of insecurity among foreign investors, including the Bin Daood family's member, sources told. On March 17, 2011, four armed men shot dead an employee of the Saudi Consulate, Hassan M M Al-Khatani, while he was on his way to office in his car in Defence Housing Authority. On May 11, 2011, two armed terrorists lobbed two hand grenades at the Saudi Consulate.
The Saudi investor had refused to invest due to deteriorating law and order situation, sources added. In this connection, a very close aide of this Saudi investor told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity that the Bin Daood family, through its one of the members, wanted to invest in Sindh, but this could not happen due to worsening law and order situation.
He said the Daood family had shown interest to invest Rs 720 million in Khairpur Mir's. "The Saudi investor had told me that he would import a few thousands of date trees from European countries to replant them in Khairpur Mir's, but this project could not be materialised due to law and order situation," he told. When contacted, Minister for Industries and Commerce Abdul Rauf Siddiqui said the Saudi investor was ready to invest in Sindh, but he later backed off.
This is not the first case of this nature. Earlier, a Chinese company, King Hu, which had also shown interest in investing in the Thar coal project, had refused to make any investment in view of deteriorating law and order situation. This company was willing to invest $3.5 billion. The investment was likely to reach $19 billion, as the company agreed to establish a chemical complex. But it had refused to proceed in view of the volatile security situation in Karachi.
It may be noted here that Khairpur Mir's district is known as the major producer of dates in Sindh and country as well. About 229,674 metric tons of dates were produced in 2010 in this district. In 2010, the Sindh government announced its plan to establish Khairpur Special Economic Zone (KSEZ), which was notified on 164 acres of land at Therhi Town.