KARACHI – Provincial Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Information Sharmila Faruqui has said that Sindh Board of Investment (SBI) has proposed the formation of Sindh Agro Processing Investment Board (SAPIB) that will provide a host of services to businesses. Support will include activities such as entrepreneur development programme, management support, technical support as well as marketing and procurement assistance.
She revealed this while speaking to a delegation of a traders association at her office. She went on to say that the proposed organisation would review and update previous studies and surveys while pinpointing suitable clusters of agro processing units called agro processing zones within existing industrial areas and estates of Sindh in a bid to generate employment in the province.
Faruqui added that SAPIB would select certain investors offering them 60 percent interest free financing and conduct joint operations in coordination with the units. She claimed that, ‘Sindh government is keen to improve industry and promote business activities in the province, for this purpose it has deployed an incentive package including a corporate income tax holiday of five years for investors and 10 years for developers.
Other incentives in the table include such facilities as duty-free import of plant, machinery, equipment and accessories to be provided to investors and exemption from provincial taxes as part of a package to tap international investment. The provincial advisor noted that possible avenues for sustained industrialisation in Sindh included clean cotton ginning, rice, fruit, vegetable, dairy, meat, fish processing, power generation and manufacturing.
She advised industrialists and traders to grasp the opportunity presented and work for the promotion of industrial activities in Sindh.
