The Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) will construct another mega economic zone in Faisalabad, disclosed FIEDMC Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq.Talking to The Express Tribune, Ashfaq said the company, which was already running a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Pakistan, would build another zone, named the Allama Iqbal Industrial City, over 3,270 acres of land. The existing SEZ is called the M-3 Industrial City.“The new industrial city will create 250,000-300,000 jobs and 350-400 mega industrial units will be set up in it,” he said. “The management has prepared a framework to accelerate work on the industrial estate,” he said, voicing hope that national and foreign investors would invest in the new industrial zone.Ashfaq revealed that the company had received encouraging response from investors and a few international companies had also signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) for injecting capital into the SEZ.He was of the view that the industrial city would attract millions of dollars in foreign direct investment.“A portion has been allocated for small and medium-sized industrial units to promote the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector,” he highlighted. “This portion will not only facilitate small traders but will also promote new SMEs in the industrial estate.”He emphasised that development work was going on at a swift pace and Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate the Allama Iqbal Industrial City in September this year. The other industrial estate (M-3 Industrial City) occupies over 4,500 acres of land, which has been allocated to domestic and foreign companies. “This is Pakistan’s largest industrial estate and prominent Chinese spinning mills have also invested for setting up spinning mills of 600,000 spindles,” he added. “FIEDMC has completely allocated the available land and will develop another 3,270 acres under the second phase.”The federal government has planned to establish nine prioritised SEZs under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) but there has been no meaningful progress on these zones so far, which are critical for attracting Chinese investment into Pakistan. FIEDMC Chief Operating Officer Aamir Saleemi said the state-of-the-art Allama Iqbal Industrial City would accelerate industrial activities in the city.“We have massive number of investors from Pakistan and abroad and the industrial estate will meet needs of new manufacturing units,” he said. “China, the UK, the UAE and many other countries are investing in these industrial estates.”However, Saleemi did not share details of prospective new investment in the Allama Iqbal Industrial City.Car manufacturing firms like Hyundai and Renault had already set up their assembly units in the FIEDMC zone, he pointed out. “Steel, textile, engineering, chemical, plastic and pharmaceutical companies are also setting up their units here.”Published in The Express Tribune, July 14, 2019.Like Business on Facebook , follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.