China Road & Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has signed a PPP agreement on a new Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the northwestern Pakistan province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The thirty-year concession agreement was signed between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development & Management Company (KPEZDMC) and CRBC executives in the presence of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Rashakai is the first SEZ under the Belt and Road initiative’s China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework. The signing ceremony took place while Prime Minister Khan was in Beijing for the recent Belt & Road Forum.

Rashakai Special Economic Zone (RSEZ) is situated centrally in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor at the junction of Karakoram Corridor and ML-1 Motorway development corridor.

In addition to being a key part of the Belt Road, RSEZ is ideally located to utilize the resource base and serve the markets of central / northeastern KP, north/ western Punjab, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and eastern Afghanistan.

RSEZ will be the key trade & logistics hub connecting Kashgar, Kabul and Gwadar on the Belt Road, and act as a high-end commercial, technological and manufacturing centre. Its focus will include garment and textile products, home building materials, electronics and electrical appliances, and automobile and mechanical equipment.