By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) and the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) here on Monday to establish an industrial estate alongside the Rawalpindi Ring Road (R3) project on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, to be known as the “ICCI Islamabad Industrial Estate”. President ICCI Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan and Chairman RDA Raja Tariq Mehmood signed the MoU during a ceremony held at Chamber House. Senior Vice President ICCI Fatima Azim, Vice President Abdul Rehman Khan, Convener ICCI Committee on New Islamabad Industrial Estate Khalid Javed, Chairman Founder Group Mian Akram Farid, Deputy Director RDA Muhammad Junaid Taj and others were present in the ceremony.
Speaking at the occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that Pakistan’s progress and prosperity was linked with industrialization and hoped that the signing of this MoU between ICCI and RDA would be instrumental in setting up a new industrial estate to boost investment and start a new era of rapid industrial growth in the region.
The ICCI President urged that the government should extend the construction package for another year to attract maximum investment. He further said that the government should also set up a real estate regulatory authority in order to regulate the activities in the construction and real estate sector and promote regulated businesses in this field.
Chairman RDA Raja Tariq Mehmood said that his organization would make all possible efforts for the establishment of ICCI Industrial Estate as this project was in the best national interest and would be helpful in attracting local and foreign investment to the region. He said that the project would also create plenty of new jobs and contribute towards tax revenue of the country, therefore, its early materialization would support the efforts for stabilizing the economy.
By signing this MoU, ICCI shall arrange preparation of technical and financial feasibility for industrial estate project and submit them to RDA for evaluation and approval. ICCI shall also help in generating partial funding for acquisition of land for industrial estate while RDA shall acquire the required land from the land owners and commit industrial plots to the investors who will be providing funding for land acquisition.
ICCI shall mobilize investors for investment in the industrial estate to set up small, medium and large-scale industries in order to produce manufactured and export-oriented products. ICCI shall also assist RDA towards formalization of the industrial estate by holding meetings with the relevant departments of the Punjab and Federal governments. Moreover, ICCI in consultation with RDA shall help finalize modalities and SOPs for the sale/purchase of plots in the industrial estate.
RDA shall acquire required land for the ICCI Industrial Estate and shall get notified of the acquired land from the Punjab Government. RDA shall earmark the land after approval of feasibility for ICCI Industrial Estate project and determine sizes and modalities for sale of industrial plots in consultation with ICCI. RDA will also negotiate with the Punjab Board of Investment to acquire approval for this industrial estate under SEZ model and will be responsible for developing its master plan in consultation with ICCI which will then be proposed to the potential investors for investment.
