KARACHI: Auto-rickshaw maker Sazgar Engineering Works has been granted permission to set up a new car manufacturing plant in Pakistan in partnership with a Chinese company, stated in a notice issued by the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Reports cite company’s secretary Arshad Mahmood as saying: “Ministry of Industries & Production of Pakistan has awarded the Category-A, Greenfield Investment status to our company,”
The vehicles will be assembled and manufactured under the brand name ‘BAIC,’ he said in the notice.
In January the Sazgar Engineering Works announced that they are initiating to set up light commercial vehicles (LCVs) plant on a fast track basis. They are striving to manufacture the vehicles in a maximum of 18 months in order to tap potential growth in the auto sector in Pakistan.
“Considering the potential growth and future prospects of the automobile sector in the country and in order to facilitate timely completion of the project; the board has decided to hold the expansion of auto rickshaws production facilities as communicated earlier,” said Mahmood in an earlier notice to PSX.
“The (cars and LCVs) project will be completed by June 30, 2019,” he said. The plant would have a “production capacity of 24,000 units per annum,” he added.
According to reports, the budget for this project has been approved at Rs 1.76 billion excluding the value of the land already owned by the company. The name of the foreign partner has been kept undisclosed since the beginning. They developed a formal understanding and signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard in May 2017.
The two partners would manufacture, assemble, sell and offer after sale services of passenger and off-road (like jeeps) vehicles.
