Senate body approves SEZs Bill, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Law, Justice, Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs on Wednesday Unanimously approved the Special Economic Zones Bill 2010 after amending some articles of...
January 04, 2012
Senator Muhammad Kazim Khan chaired the meeting held in Parliament House.
During the course of meeting Senator S.M Zaffar raised questions on the article seven of the SEZs bill and said that the decisions of the Board of Approval (BOA) should not be taken by the majority of the members present during the meeting and added that it should be based on majority of the total members of the BOA.
All the members of committee unanimously accepted SM Zaffar's proposal and directed the Secretary Board Of Investment (BOI) to make this amendment as well and approve the bill which were pending for several months.
After the approval of the bill from Parliament the Special economic
zones would be established in all provinces of the country including Islamabad.
It may be mentioned here that according to the bill the minimum area requirement for establishing SEZs is 50 acres with no maximum limit while the time period for construction and production of SEZs is six months.
The committee was informed that any person can apply for SEZ having 50 acres of land at any part of the country without any restriction.
It is pertinent to mention here that Special Economic Zones Bill 2010 was designed to encourage domestic and international investors by setting up new economic hubs in the country.
The meeting was attended by leader of the house, Senator Nayyar Bukhari, Senator Wasim Sajjad ,Senator Professor Ibrahim Khan,DR Saeeda Iqbal,Secretary Board of Investment Najeeb Qureshi and Chairman Board of Investment and Saleem Mandviwala.
In an another meeting, Chairman BoI Salim Mandviwala had informed the committee that foreign investors of China and Korea were waiting for finalization of this law so that proper protection might be provided to foreign investors.
At present, there is no law in the country to tell the investors that their investment are protected under this law, therefore, establishment of SEZs law is very much important. (APP)
