Pakistan is anticipating the finalization of a long-awaited $10 billionagreement with Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco for the construction of arefinery in Hub within the current calendar year of 2023, according tosources.
The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), jointly managed byboth the military and civilian sectors, is also exploring avenues to secureapproximately $7 billion from Saudi Arabia, which would involve SaudiArabia acquiring stakes in the Reko Diq project.
Relevant policy incentives have been approved under the GreenfieldRefinery Policy 2023 to encourage Saudi Arabian investment, as confirmed bytop official sources. There is also speculation that Saudi Arabia mightacquire stakes in the $7 billion Reko Diq project through a viabletransaction model with the assistance of the Saudi Wealth Fund.
Furthermore, plans are in place to lease 85,000 acres of agriculturalcorporate farm land to potential foreign investors, as indicated byauthoritative sources. The SIFC is actively developing a transactionpipeline to facilitate investments in critical infrastructure.Government-to-government (G2G) transactions are being fast-tracked,especially in areas related to energy, minerals, agriculture, and IT, withthe Framework for Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions already inplace.
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The SIFC is also considering G2G arrangements for the privatization ofState-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) where feasible. Notably, the firsttransaction has already been executed between the Karachi Port Trust (KPT)and AD Ports, UAE, for the Karachi container terminal, with the secondtransaction for outsourcing the operations of the Bulk and General CargoTerminal in the finalization stage. Additionally, the SIFC aims to exploretechnology-driven investments to enhance productivity in the country.
