Ayesha Saba

About 3,000 acres of land is proposed to be allocated for the Daraban Special Economic Zone in Dera Ismail Khan district, to be set up on the confluence of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. It is planned to be the largest economic zone in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where investors, including foreigners, could be able to export their products to Afghanistan, Central Asia and beyond.

Arbab Haroon, Marketing and Communication Officer at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC), told WealthPK that Daraban SEZ is located at an ideal place, only two kilometres from the CPEC’s western route. He said that the Daraban SEZ would attract investors by providing integrated infrastructure. He said that different types of industrial units would be established in Daraban SEZ, including mineral and agro-based industries, food processing units, pharmaceutical and steel industries.

Prof Fakhrul Islam, Director of Pakistan Study Centre at the University of Peshawar, said that the projects of special economic zones needed to be prioritised and that small and agro-based industries should be established there. He added that the special economic zones would herald progress and prosperity in the country if executed successfully.

He believes that through SEZs foreign investors will tap the potential of CPEC and the Belt and Road Initiative to find export markets for their products, besides catering to the local market of 220 million people. “In order to make SEZs sustainable, they should be built with the support of the local community and should fit the local community’s needs, constraints, aspirations and vision of development,” he underscored.

Fakhrul Islam said that policies regarding development of SEZs should be formulated with coordination among policymakers, the business community and other stakeholders. The second phase of the CPEC envisages increasing industrial and agricultural collaboration between the two countries just as was witnessed during the first phase of the multibillion-dollar project, which focused on building communication and energy infrastructure.

Independent News Pakistan-Wealthpk