IN another landmark development under multibillion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, Pakistan and China inked an agreement on Monday for the development of long awaited Rashakai Special Economic Zone. Prime Minister Imran Khan who was also present at the signing ceremony expressed the confidence that Rashakai Economic Zone will play an important role in the economic development of not only Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but of the entire country.
This special economic zone is located near M-1 Nowshera and it is expected to cover about 1000 acre land. The potential industries to be set up in the zone are those of mechanical development, domestic appliances, food processing and textile and construction material. Over the last many decades Pakistan has lagged far behind in industrialization and resultantly the country could not be able to push up its exports to its true potential. Under the CPEC, a golden opportunity is knocking at our doors to take the country towards rapid industrialization keeping in view the modern trends. In this backdrop, it is important that Rashakai and other economic zones under the CPEC are completed in the given time lines. Infrastructure such as approach roads and basic amenities such as electricity and gas must be ensured in the SEZs to attract investment from China and other parts of the world. Making these SEZs a success story will provide hundreds of thousands of job opportunities to our youth and bolster our exports, which is the key to address most of the economic woes of the country. We, therefore, urge Prime Minister Imran Khan to personally monitor progress on the development of SEZs. At the same time, our training institutes should fine tune their courses in such a manner that meet the need of the industries to be set up in the SEZs. The CPEC Authority under its Chairman Asim Saleem Bajwa is doing an excellent work as it has put the corridor project in high gears and one expects further broadening of cooperation between Pakistan and China in areas such as the agriculture. This multi-dimensional cooperation will take the already strong Sino-Pak relations to new heights.
Source: https://pakobserver.net/yet-another-milestone-under-cpec/