Pakistan Textile City secures public funding

The government of Pakistan has pledged 1.5 bn rupees ($17.6 mm) towards setting up a new Karachi ‘textile city’ and suggested a new completion date

The facility, at the Eastern Industrial Zone of Port Qasim at Karachi, is a public-private joint venture industrial zone, focusing on textile manufacturing and related industries. It is expected to be completed by 2012 at an estimated cost of $42 mn. It is planned to cover an area of 1,250 acres and includes natural gas, power plant, dedicated water pipeline, workers’ residential complexes, transportation systems and training institutes.

Under Pakistan’s five-year textile policy (2009-14) aimed at increasing textile and clothing exports from $15 bn to $25 bn by 2015, garment cities will be established at Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad. So far, Pakistan has since 2004 failed to meet any previous commitments on the Textile City project – previously costed at $105 mn