Today saw the announcement that the Gwadar Port City would become a tax exempt area for the next 23 years and is positioned to become the Pakistan’s largest national income generator with the goal to create 47,000 jobs with billions of dollars worth of new investment pumped into the coastal region, according to reports.
Zhang Baozhong , the China Overseas Ports Holding Company (COPHC) Gwadar Chairman said that the Pakistan government has authorised a 23-year income tax break and exemptions of sales tax and customs duties for the Gwadar Port and businesses established within the Gwadar Free Zone.
It has been announced that Gwadar will be striving to grow quicker than Karachi and eventually become the largest contributor to the nations economic output. All this is predicted to happen within 7 years according to Zhang.
If you are still undecided about investing in Gwadar, then this information will give you some indication at the level of Chinese financial support is being invested into the area! Gwadar is becoming an economic powerhouse in its own right for jobs and wealth generating. In the following years to come all households in this city will benefit from consistent jobs and stability in this emerging region.
“I believe Gwadar will be the largest contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in seven years”, said Zhang Baozhong, the chairman of COPHC.
“We have completed the masterplan of the Gwadar Free Zone that will be built in four phases over a period of seven years,” said Zhang. “Once the zone is fully developed in seven years, 47,000 jobs will be created for the locals, and its annual sales will be USD 1 billion,” the COPHC chairman said.
It was reported that the Zhang worked tirelessly for seven years to gain the support of the National Development Council (a joint civilian and military body).
As mentioned by the chairman, the completed Smart City Masterplan was officially released only recently and put in place several long term milestones for completing important residential areas and infrastructure requirements within Gwadar. It outlines its ambitions of serving a population up to 2 million over the next 30 years while drawing in tourism much like the city of Dubai.
It was reported that 41 investors have so far boosted 500 million USD into Gwadar with more expected to follow suit. This investment represents a mixture of different industries set up in various sectors in logistics, edible oil, piping, and food. The operator is keen to push Gwadar as a place to establish technological based industries such as computing and hardware manufacturing.
As increasing numbers of people migrate to live and work in Gwadar, demand on land for residential building will only increase. Given the size of the ambition within Gwadar, it is a place to invest before any hint of a property boom where property value will rise very quickly. As more people move into the area they will be looking to live and work within Gwadar so now is an opportunity to look at investing.
If you wish to learn about Pakistan’s strategically located port of Gwadar, please sign up to one of our UK seminars here. They are free to attend and you will learn about how China is taking “the project of the century” to Pakistan, as reported by the Financial Times, in the shape of the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an assortment of infrastructure and energy projects that is the focal point of China’s ground-breaking BRI.