The Pakistani government has declared PSA-operated Gwadar port a tax free zone for 10 years to woo investment to the planned Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in an effort to boost the country’s external trade
“There will be no sales tax or stamp duty on construction materials imported for the state of the art EZP being established on 46, 000 acres of land at Gwadar to boost exports,” explained the Federal Minister for Industries and Production Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo.
The minister said that the move, apart from creating employment opportunities for the people of Baluchistan province, would greatly help boost the country’s exports as well as trade and industrial sectors.
The ministry recently unveiled R6671.431M for acquisition of land for the establishment of the Free Zone at Gwadar.
Meanwhile the government in its annual national budget for fiscal year 2009-2010 has earmarked an outlay to the tune of R1445.06 million (US$17.73M) for various development schemes relating to Gwadar port.
Out of the total amount, R550M has been allocated for maintenance dredging, R78.810M for repair of navigational aids, R89M for Gwadar port Civic Centre, R81M for dredging of the channel down to 14.5m and R30M for construction of Eastbay Expressway to link the port with the national road network.
A sum of R600M has been allocated for construction of the Gwadar-Ratodaro road, and R5M for detailed engineering and traffic survey for establishing rail links to and from the Gwadar port. An amount of R11.25M has been allocated for construction of boundary wall of the EPZ’s site office.
Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani told the National Assembly that development of Gwadar port was the number one priority of his government. “We have already made this port operational and imported fertiliser for agriculture through this port”, the Prime Minister said, adding the operational activities through Gwadar port have created jobs for the people there and generated economic activities.
The port was developed by Pakistan with the Chinese investment and is operated by PSA International under a long term concession. Operations began last year.
