The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is anticipated to generate some 575,000 direct jobs and over one million indirect jobs in four special economic zones (SEZs) spread throughout Pakistan’s provinces. During an interactive session conducted at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Chairman Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) S.M. Naveed said that these SEZs will be established in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan. According to him, Pakistanis will have a lot of job and business prospects as a result of the second and third phases of the CPEC.

Naveed said, “We are planning to conduct short-term courses to train aspirants in their respective fields,” because Pakistan has a severe shortage of competent labourers, and some Chinese companies had trouble locating qualified individuals to work on energy and infrastructure projects. In order to identify possible jobs and industries in the SEZs, he said: “We have conducted a study to assess employment opportunities in four out of nine SEZs—KP’s Rashakai, Sindh’s Dhabeji, Punjab’s Allama Iqbal, and Balochistan’s Bostan.” Before the start of the industrial phase, the local youth should be trained for the jobs that the SEZs provide in a variety of professions, he continued.

Naveed said, the SEZs have the potential to create 55,000 jobs for people in the fields of food processing, cooking oil, ceramics, gems and jewellery, marble, minerals, farm machinery, iron and steel, motorcycle assembling, electrical appliances, and automobiles. Additionally, some 80,000 jobs would be generated in the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, electrical, automotive, and plastic-related goods industries. According to him, competent labourers and engineers would not only be able to find lucrative positions in the SEZs but also help Chinese and local businesses hire skilled workers from their communities rather than from other regions of the country.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk