PM Imran Khan inaugurates JW Forland's vehicle manufacturing plant

ISLAMABAD: Chinese automaker JW Forland’s first assembly plant worth US$350 million was inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by JW SEZ CEO Group Shah Faisal along with Haier CEO Javed Afridi and Alex Xu CEO.

Addressing the launch ceremony, the prime minister said that the project would initially create 5,000 employment opportunities which are likely to increase with the march of time as 45,000 people would be employed by it eventually.

Shah Faisal Afridi said that “JW Forland is fetching in almost $350 million worth of investment to the economy, which will act as a huge booster for all the stakeholders and the PTI government as well. Furthermore, it will also present assurance to foreign investors who are enthusiastic to invest in the Pakistani market”.

JW-FORLAND was created as a concord between Changsha Foton Vehicle Technology Co. Ltd. and JW SEZ Group which was signed previously in December 2016. JW-FORLAND is counted in the first Pakistani company to have a 50/50 business deal with a foremost Chinese company in the auto sector. Also, for the first time in auto sector of Pakistan it is observed that Chinese technology will be transferred to Pakistan consisting particular parts like transmission, engine etc.

The joint venture instituted an assembly plant in almost one and half year after receiving Greenfield status. However, the plant capacity, in its initial stage is producing 30,000 units per annum, which is located on almost 50-acre land in Lahore.

The early product range of this project will consist of cargo trucks and dump trucks ranging from 1 ton to 7.5 tons loading capacity.

It needs to be mentioned here that JW-FORLAND Dump truck D310 is foremost locally manufactured dump truck which is intended as per international safety standards and in accordance for the construction segment of Pakistan.

However, it is observed that in first stage of this joint venture almost $150 million was invested which provided direct employment to 500 plus people not only including extremely educated and skilled labor but also recent graduates from different colleges and vocational institutes.

Also, the company had planned to invest $300 million in near future to enlarge its product line.