ISLAMABAD - Of the 10,029.64 acres of industrial land for 21 notified Special Economic Zones SEZs 52 per cent have been allotted to investors for setting up of industry with planned investments of Rs 633.9 billion. 
The total notified 21 SEZs together account for approx. 10,029.64 acres of industrial land out of which 5,220.62 acres (52 per cent) have been allotted to investors for setting up of industry with planned investments of Rs 633.9 billion, 43.6 per cent or $1.73 billion of this comprises of FDI component.
It is also significant to mention that under the SEZ Act 2012, a zone enterprise is obligated to start construction within six months and to get into commercial production/operations within 24 months of its approval, whereas title to land is to be transferred only after it has performed regular operations for six months. Unless otherwise extended, upon expiry of the 24 months or the period so extended, if a zone enterprise remains unable to fulfill its obligation the status is to be withdrawn.
Lack of resource allocation constrained the earlier notified 7 SEZs from achieving their development milestones while making it difficult to solicit interest for CPEC SEZs. As a result of the joint efforts, funds amounting to Rs 19.9 billion were allocated from the PSDP for provision of power and gas for all the SEZs, to be released over the period of next 5 years, in a phased and prioritized manner. Out of these funds, amounting to Rs 5.6 billion were allocated in FY2019, whereas Rs 4 billion have been allocated for FY2021, out of which, Rs 3.4 billion have been earmarked for CPEC SEZs.
Out of earlier notified seven SEZs by 2016, except the Quaid-e-Azam Apparel Park (which was re-notified on 8th December 2020 as Quaid-e-Azam Business Park), all 6 earlier notified SEZs are at advanced stage of colonization. These SEZs together house 285 enterprise (excluding the Industrial Estate units in M3IC and VAC). Over 84 per cent of industrial area allotted, 46 per cent of investment has been realized with 50 per cent as FDI. The Federal Government has exempted Rs 49.39 billion of custom duties and taxes on the import of plant and machinery for setting up of units in these zones.
Till FY2018, only 7 SEZs existed, while 6 of them had converted from their earlier status as Industrial estates (IEs) or Industrial Parks (IPs). However, with the advent of CPEC SEZs, the establishment of SEZs across the country took up pace, showing investor confidence in the industrial regime. As of now, 22 SEZs have been approved, while 21 of them have been notified by the BOI. These include, 4CPEC SEZs, 3 Private SEZs (including two Sole Enterprise SEZs), and a Science and Technology Park that is being established by NUST in Islamabad.
During the 6th meeting of Pak-China Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on CPEC held in Beijing, China; establishment of nine SEZs in Pakistan, seven Provincial and two Federal, were agreed under the framework of CPEC Industrial Cooperation (IC). All four provincial SEZs, namely, Rashakai SEZ in KP, Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Punjab, Bostan SEZ in Balochistan and Dhabeji SEZ in Sindh have been accorded approval by the Board of Approvals and are at various stages of development. In order to fast-track development of these SEZs, the federal government has ensured provision of utilities to the designated zero point of these SEZs and as such allocated Rs4 billion in the Federal PSDP FY2021.