Punjab names working group to push industrial estate along Rawalpindi Ring Road

Punjab has finalised a joint working group of business representatives and government officials to push forward a new industrial estate along the Rawalpindi Ring Road, with its notification due shortly, provincial industries minister Chaudhry Shafay Hussain said.

The minister told a Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry delegation on Monday that the group would accelerate the project. The estate is to be built on non-agricultural land, he said, in response to industrial demand and the needs of the business community, and is expected to generate employment and strengthen regional economic activity.

The panel will include RCCI Patron-in-Chief Sohail Altaf, RCCI President Nosherwan Khalil Khan and former president Asad Mashadi, alongside Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Muhammad Zakaria Akbar Khan, former president Khalid Javed and Hajveri Group chairman Tauqeer Awan. Officials on the group are Industries and Commerce Secretary Muhammad Umar Masood, PAIDMC chairman Shehzad Azam and chief operating officer Ali Moazzam.

Hussain also pointed to the Chief Minister's Asaan Karobar Finance Scheme and the Punjab government's PIVOT Programme, saying they would promote investment, industrial growth and job creation. The RCCI delegation welcomed the province's new industrial policy as business- and industry-friendly, and praised income tax exemptions in industrial zones and the provision of interest-free loans.

Chamber representatives said industrialisation was essential for Pakistan's economic development and pressed for economic and industrial zones along the Ring Road, calling the initiative a potential game changer for investment, industrial expansion and employment. The working group will bring the RCCI, the Islamabad chamber and government officials together to take the project forward.