KARACHI: The Small and Medium Industrial Leasing Estates Pvt Ltd (SMILE) has facilitated the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto for setting up the investment secretariat and have urged Murad Ali Shah chief minister (CM) of Sindh to now allow the SMEs to build state of the art industrial estates on self help basis under private public partnership and facilitate them accordingly to enable industrialization on fast track basis.
Chairman and CEO SMILE Zulfikar Thaver said many of our SMEs connected with different lines of trade and industry are keen to set up industries of innovative and import substitution items and are seeking ease of doing business and wish to collectively set up about 500 industries in the adjoining areas of Super Highway and the National Highway. The feasibility of the state of the art industrial estate is ready and simply needs a go ahead from the CM and the secretary investment Sindh.
Thaver said that SMILE has in hand almost 500 applications of industrialist and investors who have their feasibility prepared and are waiting for positive response from the investment secretariat of Sindh to move further in the matter. The investors are seeking the facility of uninterrupted electricity, regular supply of gas, water and suitable environment.
In a meeting of its board of directors they said that they have the best of designers, architects, builders and development companies who have agreed to support the entrepreneurs and also some leading leasing companies, commercial banks and other institutions like the Sindh Entrepreneurs Development Fund (SEDF) the Small Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) are more than willing to lend support to the cause of industrialization.
The directors of SMILE lamented that although their application was strongly recommended many years ago by the Sindh Board of Revenue for setting up of the state of the art industrial estate the desired land was not allotted although selected because of reasons best known to the then coalition government.
The directors of SMILE are now hopeful that under the leadership of CM Murad Ali Shah they will be facilitated, encouraged, supported and motivated to set up industries in the outskirts of Karachi and in Sindh for rapid industrialization.