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Work on Sundar Industrial Estate begins August 30

* Plot-allotment to begin September 1
* Plots cost Rs 3.5m, 254 of 286 available in first phase already snapped up
* PIEDMC says estate will create 10,000 jobs

Staff Report

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi will inaugurate the first phase of the Sundar Industrial Estate (SIE) project on August 30, a Punjab Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (PIEDMC) official told a press conference on Thursday.

Work on the estate was supposed to begin on August 14, but the inauguration was delayed due to management problems, said Mohsin M Syed, the chief executive of the PIEDMC.

Mr Syed said the PIEDMC initially decided to initiate work only on the 500-acre first phase of the project. The Sundar Industrial Estate is ultimately to encompass 1,500 acres. The PIEDMC will start the plot-allotment process on September 1 and complete it by September 30, he added.

“The PIEDMC will first complete the SIE’s first phase. After it is fully operational, the company will start working on the second phase. In the meanwhile, we will be able to take care of any problems that may arise in the functional phase.”

Mr Syed said land for the SIE had been bought and a Rs 1.1 billion contract had been awarded to a private company for the construction of roads and drainage, which will take about ten months.

He said 254 investors had expressed an interest in establishing heir industries in the SIE and there demand would be met by the first phase, which has 286 plots available. The majority of the applicants are from the textile, engineering and pharmaceutical sectors, he said, adding that applications were called in advance to ascertain what sort of industry they had to cater for.

“From now on, applicants will be able to get a plot for Rs 3.5 million on thirty percent down payment with the application form,” he said. Mr Syed said the facilities offered in the industrial estate would be of an international standard. The estate will have wide roads capable of bearing the loads of heavy trucks, an underground electricity supply, sewerage system, mobile phone and landline facilities, Sui gas facilities, hospital, motel and restaurant, industrial waste treatment, stores for waste material, transport and police stations. When completed, the PIEDMC expects an investment of Rs 3 billion in the estate.

He said those who purchase plots in the estate would not be allowed to sell them. If they cannot start construction work within six months, they would be given back 95 percent of their money. Each buyer would have 18 months to complete construction and begin production.

Asked about hosing for labourers, he said the chief minister had also directed them to find land within three kilometres of the estate to construct a labour colony.

The PIEDMC plans to set up a power station at the estate to ensure a continuous electricity supply. “We have seven investors interested in setting up a power house of 150 mega watts (MW). Our energy demand has been estimated at 50 MW. The surplus would be sold to the Water and Power Development Authority,” he said.

Mr Syed said the SIE and other industrial estates were part of the Punjab government’s industrial policy which would strengthen the economy. He said the SIE would create 10,000 jobs.

After the Sundar Industrial Estate, a 3,000-acre industrial estate will be built in Faisalabad, he said. About the improvement of existing industrial estates, he said that all empty plots in industrial estates had been sold and roads and sewerage were being designed for the Kot Lakhpat Industrial Estate. He was accompanied by Information Secretary Taimur Azmat Usman and Public Relations Director General Shoaib Bin Aziz.

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