Raza Khan ISLAMABAD, March 23 (INP-WealthPK): The Ministry of Commerce has proposed the establishment of Lahore Garment City Phase-II to attract foreign investment and enhance export of the value-added garments. The purpose of the project is to reduce the capital outlay of garment manufacturers and provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for export of value-added garments. According to the proposed plan, a copy of which is available with WealthPK, the project would be launched in the Sundar Industrial Estate, Lahore city, the capital of the Punjab province. The project would be sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and executed by the Lahore Garment City Company (LGCC), says the document. The total estimated cost of the project is PKR1.358 billion and it would be completed in two and a half years. According to the Ministry of Commerce, the purpose of the project is to double the existing output being generated from similar facilities of the Lahore Garment City Phase-I. “It will contribute towards reducing the capital outlay of garment manufacturers,” said the ministry. The ministry is optimistic that the project will attract foreign investment in Pakistan. The project would focus on the measures to reduce the cost of doing business and to remove hurdles in establishing garments production units. It will increase the proportion of value-added products in the total textile exports from Pakistan. In Lahore Garments City Phase-II, the textile units would be encouraged to use modern management practices for improving efficiency and reducing wastage, the ministry said. The project also aims to maximize the value of Pakistan’s cotton resources. With the establishment of more textile units in the country, maximum cotton and other raw materials would be transformed into value-added products. The program would lead to higher per capita productivity and reduced wastage because of in-house training and constant capacity building of professionals and supervisors, according to the documents. Ayasha Humera Chaudhry, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, told WealthPK that the proposed plan had been sent to the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives for formal approval. The investors would get all the facilitation for construction, logistics and certain documentation by relevant departments within the garment city. Around 5,000 jobs would be created directly, while 8,000 to 10,000 people would get employment gradually, the spokesperson said. The project would also focus on research and development in the textile sector besides facilitating establishment of production units. The Ministry of Commerce would spend PKR423 million on the proposed project during the Fiscal Year 2022-23, while the rest of the amount would be spent in next two fiscal years, the spokesperson added. A testing laboratory, a training center and a warehouse would also be set up in the proposed project. The Lahore Garment City Company was established in 2004. The Phase-I of the project acquired 19.4 acres of land in the Sunder Industrial Estate. Since 2004, the LGCC has on average trained 400 persons every year, enabling them to use modern techniques in garment manufacturing with abilities to produce value-added products. The company is also training 5,000 to 6,000 workers each year.