Special Economic Zone

Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a blanket term for various types of specialized zones with specific types of enterprises operating in a well-defined geographic area where certain economic activities are promoted by a set of policy measures that are not generally applicable to the rest of the country.

Successful SEZs offer immediate access to high-quality infrastructure, uninterruptible power supply, clearly titled land, public facilities, and support services .In addition, streamlined regulatory enforcement, simpler business and establishment rules, expedited customs administration, and other special administrative and approval procedures are also offered in such zones.

Special Economic Zone Framework in Pakistan

The SEZ Act was promulgated on September 13, 2012 and later this year the SEZ Rules were notified. The law provides SEZs to be set up by the Federal or Provincial Governments themselves or in collaboration with the private sector under different modes of public-private partnership or exclusively through the private sector.

The fiscal benefits under the SEZ law include a one-time exemption from custom duties and taxes for all capital goods imported into Pakistan for the development, operations and maintenance of a SEZ (both for the developer as well as for the zone enterprise) and exemption from all taxes on income for a period of ten years.

The provincial SEZ authorities, set up under the law, are required to move the applications received from developers to the Federal Board of Investment which is to act as the secretariat to the Board of Approval and the Approval committee.

The Board of Approval (BOA), the highest approving forum is headed by the Prime Minister with membership from Economic Ministries, Provincial Governments, Public and Private Sectors. Approvals Committee is headed by the Chairman BOI and membership from Economic Ministries, Provincial Governments, Public and Private Sectors and SEZ Authorities (at provincial level including Gilgit- Baltistan) work under the leadership of the Chief Ministers.
The first application of Khairpur Special Economic Zone was in principle approved by the Approval Committee of Special Economic Zones in its first meeting held on February 11, 2014.

Khairpur Special Economic Zone is being developed in Khairpur District as a future hub of agro-processing and other related industries, KSEZ is located on 140 acres land in the proximity of date growing areas, ideal for setting up date processing and packaging plant for exporting different varieties of date to get high price for this value added product in the international markets. This special zone will have state-of-the-art infrastructure, efficient design, easy access to labor and training facilities and quality logistic services.

The zone will provide inherent benefits of essential supporting amenities to small, medium, and large enterprises to grow and flourish in a global market place.

The Provincial Governments have received many applications for various potential zones in their respective provinces and are in the process of preparing documents to further process the applications. They are also engaged with potential local and foreign investors to finalize arrangements for infrastructure development of the areas identified for Zones.