LAHORE - Around 740 industrial units from various sectors have been established in the Sundar Industrial Estate, bringing an investment of around Rs40 billion in the economic zone.
Sundar Industrial Estate Management Board Vice president Syed Maaz Mahmood said that the number of direct employees had reached 125,000 in the estate, providing job opportunities for up to 800,000 skilled and semi skilled workforce.
Regarding the recent Expo 2018 held at Sundar Industrial Estate, Syed Maaz Mahmood said that it was one of the largest industrial exhibitions in the province, aimed at promoting industrialization and growth across the manufacturing sectors.
He said that 100 different stalls were set up in the exhibition. The opening ceremony was attended by the provincial industries minister Sheikh Allauddin, President Board of Management of Sundar Industrial Estate Asif Ali Tipu, chairman Punjab Industrial Development and Management Company Abdul Basit and other officials.
Syed Maaz Mahmood applauded the provincial government's initiatives for development of industries. He said the SIE is the flagship project of the Punjab government which would promote B2B culture.
Sundar Industrial Estate comprising of 1750 acres of land was inaugurated in Feb, 2007 and is a vision turned into reality. It is the first project assigned to PIEDMC and was envisioned to be an ‘island of facilitation’ for prospective industrialists.
The objective was to develop an industrial estate where issues of industrialists are handled and problems solved through ‘One Window’ operation.
Responding to a question, Maaz Mahmood said that business community is the backbone of economy and it must be facilitated for sustainable economic growth of the country. He suggested that prices of gas and other industrial inputs should be identical throughout the country. He said that effective measures should also be put in place to remove mistrust between the taxpayers and the tax collector.
He said the government had largely overcome the energy shortfall as there was a considerable decline in electricity load-shedding, citing that it was an obvious result of concerted efforts from government side which was really praiseworthy.
He said that business community would be much relieved if per unit price of electricity was further brought down that would decrease cost of production and enhance Pakistani products' competitiveness in international market.
