Page 211 - Muzaffargarh Gazzetteer

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
As stated above, Muzaffargarh is one of the least developed districts not only
in the region but the entire province, with majority of the population
undertaking, or connected to, subsistence farming, in one way or the other.
Industry is practically limited to few units only, and has thus not been able
to have greater impact on the economic lives of the people around. Such a
situation could not be reversed without any extraordinary or out-of-box
intervention. On the other hand, the District Administration neither had the
capacity nor resources to make any such intervention. However, it decided
to take advantage of Muzaffargarh’s strategic location. The effort was fully
supported, rather led by, the then Commissioner Dera Ghazi Khan, Tahir
Khursheed, who had himself been a deputy commissioner in Muzaffargarh,
and therefore had a special affiliation for the district. A piece of land
measuring 400 acres of state land was identified on Muzaffargarh–Dera
Ghazi Khan Road for the purposes of establishing an industrial park, and an
on-site presentation was made to the then Chairman Planning Department,
who was heading to Dera Ghazi Khan on February 18, 2019 on an official
assignment. It was proposed that an industrial park comprising big and
small industrial units, along with allied facilities such as an IT/Engineering
University, a vocational training center, a workshop, an exhibition center
etc., shall be established there. It was said that it would be first such park
in the South Punjab, situated at a distance of maximum two hours from
Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Muzaffargarh and
Multan. Furthermore, it was easily accessible from Sindh and Baluchistan
too. Since the state land was available on almost all sides, there was also
room for future expansion. It was further argued that the proposed park
could turn around the economy of entire region and not merely Muzaffargarh.
Furthermore, besides providing higher education as well as technical
training, it would also provide employment opportunities to the locals on

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