AJK PM urges business community to set up industrial units

KARACHI: Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan on Wednesday urged the business and industrial community of Karachi to set up industrial units in AJK, saying it would help create employment opportunities for the locals.

Speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI), the prime minister said the AJK government would facilitate the business community with a cheap land facility at Rs1.2 million per acre and also inexpensive electricity.

The electricity rate could be brought down further after negotiations with the industrialists looking forward to set up their units in AJK, he added.

“We want the business and industrial community of Karachi, which contributes 70 percent revenue to the national exchequer, to come forward and lead the industrialists of Kashmir so that our industries could learn from your expertise and produce fine quality products in addition to creating abundant employment opportunities for the local populace,” Tanveer said.

He stated that the AJK government would like to see the sitting KCCI president on the boards of various universities, medical colleges, and technical institutes in AJK so that his valuable inputs could be utilised for improving the performance of the institutions.

An information desk would also be established at KCCI to assist business community members looking forward to explore business and investment opportunities in AJK, he added. “There are also a lot of investment opportunities in Kashmir’s tourism sector wherein the business community of Karachi can certainly benefit.”

Referring to severe economic crises and inflation in the country, he stressed that all the political parties must put their difference aside and sit together on a table to jointly devise strategies for resolving the economic crises.

“We will have to come out of the clutches of dollar. IMF is not concerned about the impact of exorbitant electricity and gas tariffs. They are only concerned about implementation of conditions at any cost without taking the impact or ground realities into consideration,” he opined, adding that the business community would have to focus on diversification to improve Pakistan’s depleting exports.

Agreeing to a KCCI’s suggestion of signing a memorandum of understanding, AJK PM assured that the business community looking forward to initiate businesses would be fully facilitated by the AJK government in terms of infrastructure, tariffs, and taxation, etc.

Earlier KCCI president Mohammed Tariq Yousuf underscored a need to promote the tourism opportunities available in the AJK region, one of the most beautiful lands in the country, capable of attracting large number of tourists from around the world.

He was of the view that as industrial land had become extremely expensive in all the industrial zones of Karachi, the AJK government should give some kind of special incentives to Karachi-based industrialists who wanted to set up their industrial units in AJK.

“In addition to cheaper land, low-cost electricity, suitable infrastructure, and tax incentives would certainly encourage many industrialists to open up their production units in AJK without having a second thought,” he said.

Yousuf informed that the Karachi chamber would also look into the possibility of sending its delegation to AJK to explore business and investment opportunities in this region.

“To create a win-win situation, the AJK government must provide all the required facilities with some special incentives to those industrialists intending to set up their units in AJK’s Special Economic Zones.”

KCCI senior vice president Touseef Ahmed, former presidents Shamim Ahmed Firpo and Muhammad Idrees along with KCCI managing committee members and several AJK parliamentarians were also present on the occasion.