SIALKOT: The Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Sialkot had been lying non-functional for the last 15 consecutive years as the EPZ had yet could attract only eight exporters to establish their factories there since its establishment.
Most of the Sialkot exporters said that though several trade and export related incentives were available at Sialkot EPZ, but it was still very hard for them to establish their industrial units at there.
Export- oriented Sialkot city’s all the main trade bodies including Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) have expressed grave concern over the sorry state of affairs at Sialkot EPZ.
Meanwhile, President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry Majid Raza Bhutta, Senior Vice President Adnan Sethi Vice President Mian Imran Akbar and Chairman Pakistan Surgical Instruments Manufacturers and Exporters Association Jehangir Bajwa have urged the federal and provincial governments to de-notify or abolish the EPZ Status of Sialkot EPZ or make it fully functional for promoting the exports from Pakistan’s first every Golden Export Triangle comprising Sialkot, Gujrat and Gujranwala districts. Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Sialkot is a joint initiative of Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) Ministry of Industries, Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) and Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI).
It is located near Sambrial on Sialkot-Wazirabad Road in close proximity of Sialkot Dry Port and Sialkot International Airport. There were total 881 plots in Sialkot Export Processing Zone (EPZ) covering an area of 238 acres. The government had given the responsibility for developing the EPZ to PSIC. All the plots in EPZ have been allotted.
