The construction industry is the fastest growing sector in the country and has received a whopping sum of $468 million Foreign Direct Investment during the fiscal year 2016-17.Though the figure shows 10 times increase from the previous year’s investment of $46 million, the industry needs special government attention as it has the potential to act as an engine of growth for the national economy. Overall, the country received $2.41 billion foreign investment during the previous fiscal year, most of which — $1.186 billion– came from Chinese investors, showing 11 increase from the last year’s $1.064 billion. There are two economic models, Dubai and Singapore, for Pakistan to follow. Dubai has desert plains with insignificant quantity of oil, but it has built its economic empire on the basis of real estate and construction industry. The prices of land and buildings in the desert nation are equal to Manhattan of New York. This happened due to power of the economic policies and reaping the benefits of construction industry. The second nation is Singapore which started massive housing projects, leading the nation to the first world economies. Pakistan’s housing industry has all the potential and powers to lead the nation to the next level of the economy.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan,the country received $2.3 billion investment a year earlier. The second volume gainer for 2017 was the power sector which received the highest FDI of $795 million, but in fact the investment in this sector has declined as compared to the previous year’s $1.159 billion. The food sector received $493 million in 2017 as compared to net outflow of $56 million during the previous year. The Pakistani exporters are unable to compete in the world markets due to shortage of electricity which is also too expensive to bring any good to the economy. There are no two opinions in the notion that most of the economic woes facing the nation are due to energy crisis. Pakistan is one of the best geographical regions where sun shines the whole year and is a source of cheap electricity. However, the policymakers have failed to harness this vital source of energy.
It is true that the nation is cash starved, but ill-conceived policies are also responsible for many woes. Until the policymakers are able to look into the future, the nation will continue to suffer stigma of underdevelopment.
