By Tahir Ali

 

 

PESHAWAR,Jan.22(Gwadar Pro) -“In approximately 90 days, Century Steel (Private) Limited’s first unit will begin production at Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ),” said Abdul Karim Tordher, SACM Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Industries.

 

Rashakai SEZ is a flagship project under the industrial cooperation of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework. Century Steel of China's Jincheng Industry Development Private Ltd has occupied 20 acres of land at Rashakai SEZ and the iron and steel conglomerate was the first foreign company to establish its plant at Rashakai SEZ.

 

"The first unit, which is going to be operationalized, is being set up with an investment of USD 50 million," Abdul Karim said, adding that the total size of Century Steel's investment is over USD 300 million".

 

According to Century Steel, during the first phase, the company will mainly start producing rebar while in the second phase it will start the production of wire rod followed by the production of profile steel in the third phase.

 

Abdul Karim Tordher said that Rashakai SEZ is the fruit of the Beijing Expo (road show), which is an industrial cooperation project under CPEC. According to him, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) 's investment in Rashakai SEZ has encouraged other foreigners to come and invest in different sectors of the province.

 

The KP Government signed more than 40 MoUs worth USD 8 billion with international investors in different sectors earlier this month in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. According to Mr. Tordher, 11 of the MoUs have been signed with different investors interested in investing in SEZs in the province including Rashakai SEZ and Hattar SEZ.