By Muzaffar
Rizvi
Pakistan is confident to secure UAE and Gulf investments in mega projects especially in the energy- and agro-based industries, its delegates at the Annual Investment Meeting, or AIM, said.
Pakistan is confident to secure UAE and Gulf investments in mega projects especially in the energy- and agro-based industries, its delegates at the Annual Investment Meeting, or AIM, said.
Top
officials from the Trade Development and Authority of Pakistan, or TDAP, Abu
Dhabi Group and Sindh Board of Investment on Wednesday gave presentations on
key investment projects in renewable energy, power generation, agriculture,
coal mining and infrastructure developments.
“Pakistan
offers various investment opportunities in energy and power sectors as well as
in agro-based industries to international and Gulf investors at AIM,” Tariq
Puri, chief executive of TDAP, toldKhaleej Times on the
sidelines of the conference.
He said
discussions and meetings with government and private levels are being held on
the sidelines of AIM and the Pakistan delegation is expected positive results
in coming days.
Pakistan’s
80-member trade delegation, led by Federal Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim,
participated in the second-day activities of investment forum and gave
presentations on various key projects especially in Sindh province.
Amin
Fahim said Pakistan has huge potential for investment in key sectors and the
government will go all-out to facilitate the foreign investors especially from
the Gulf countries.
Sindh
chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said the agricultural economy of Sindh
province contributes about 23 per cent to Pakistan’s gross domestic production.
“Keeping
in view global food security concerns, the province vast agriculture expanse
has capacity to become region’s food basket,” he said.
Shah
said agro-related investment projects are ready for investment and introduction
to value-addition through use of technology, efficient irrigation system and
modern implements can help attain true potential of province agriculture. The
Sindh Board of Investment, the primary investment promotion agency of the
province, invited Gulf investors and UAE companies in particular to avail the
benefits of conducive-investment policies.
“We are
offering investment opportunities in agriculture farming, livestock,
grain-storage project as well as in infrastructure development projects,”
Muhammed Zubair Motiwala, chairman of the Sindh Board of Investment, told Khaleej Times.
Elaborating,
he said the government of Sindh is looking to offer land for establishment of Halal Meat Park in Sukkur and Thatta near Karachi. He
said the Rs500 million project will pay back the cost in three to five years
and offers a 20-22 per cent IRR to investors.
Motiwala
said the provincial government has strived to facilitate and create
investor-friendly environment to attract more investment especially in Thar
Coalfield, which is declared as a special economic zone. Investors can avail
30-year tax holiday, zero per cent customs duties on import of coal mining
equipment and machinery. “We are offering up to 22 per cent IRR to investors on
the their investment in Sindh along with other benefits which include
repatriation of 100 per cent capital, profits, royalty and zero import duties
on capital goods, plant and machinery and equipment not manufactured locally,”
he said.
He said
that the province has also an estimated hydropower potential of 153 megawatts
based on various sites identified along the Sindh canal network.
He
said the UAE has showed interest in Thar coal mining and power plant
projects. “Al Manhal has shown interest in developing block 2 of the Thar
Coalfield. We may discuss the project this weekend and if talks go positively,
the UAE firm may invest up to $6 billion in the Thar coal project,” he said.
Motiwala
said Thar coal reserves have an estimated potential of generating 100,000
megawatts of electricity for a period of 300 years. “It provides an opportunity
for large-scale mining and power-generation over a longer period of time,” he
said.
He said
Pakistan has been facing an acute shortage of electricity and direly need
investments in power-generation projects. According to a delegate, about 700
main industries in Punjab and Sindh are directly affected by electricity
shortages in the country.
“About
400 industries in Punjab and 300 factories in Sindh have shut down their
operations due to load-shedding and shortage of electricity,” he said.
Motiwala
further said Sindh government also offers investment opportunities in renewable
energy like solar street light initiative and wind power projects worth around
$5.3 billion.
“International
investors are in queue to invest in wind power projects because the province
has potential to generate 50,000 megawatts electricity through wind turbines
across its coastal belt,” he said.
To a
question about potential investors in wind energy, he said Hydro China, China
Three and NBT/Malakoff, among others, showed interest in 26 projects in the
province with installed capacity of 1,800 megawatts.
“We also
have offered some renewable energy projects to Masdar. We will discuss some
investment opportunities with Masdar officials in Abu Dhabi and expect positive
results,” he said.
“The
annual radiation of 3,000 hours in Sindh has an endless potential for solar
energy,” he said adding that the government is keen to encourage public-private
partnerships in energy, power, agriculture and infrastructure development
projects.”
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