Islamabad — Pakistan's federal government has outlined plans for new industrial and commercial zones at Port Qasim, including an edible oil city, an automotive processing zone and an apparel zone.
Federal Maritime Affairs Minister Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry invited vanaspati manufacturers to establish an edible oil industrial city at the port and said the government would facilitate investors.
According to the minister, a 150-acre automotive processing zone is planned and could be expanded in phases according to market demand.
A 250-acre apparel zone is also planned. The government statement projects that its first phase could create more than 138,000 jobs and generate around $2.2 billion in annual exports.
Those figures are government projections for a planned project. The zones are not yet completed and the employment and export outcomes have not yet been realised.
The minister also proposed a private-sector business model for a seawater treatment plant to address industrial water shortages at Port Qasim.