November 21, 2008	Friday	Ziqa'ad 22, 1429

NANJING (China), Nov 20: Punjab Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said his government has prepared a comprehensive package of incentives for Chinese companies intending to make investments in Punjab. Chinese entrepreneurs would get maximum facilities and protection in the province, he said at the inauguration of the council of investors and traders of Jiangsu province here on Thursday.

Identifying the projects for cooperation in various sectors, the chief minister said the government had planned a number of infrastructure development projects, including elevated expressway, ring road and mass transit system in the provincial capital for coping with the problem of increasing traffic.

He said that investors would get attractive returns on their investments in Punjab. He said the government was using all available resources for increasing the literacy rate for preparing skilled workforce.

The Chinese companies represented in the investment council specialise in power generation, solar energy, wind energy, road construction, garments and textile, manufacturing of CNG buses, real estate and construction.

The chief minister said that Punjab had vast iron and coal reserves which could be used for steel production and power generation and he had invited a major construction and engineering firm to help in extracting the reserves.

Two memorandums of understanding were signed with leading companies of Jiangsu for development projects and cooperation in the construction of Rawalpindi expressway and ring road in Lahore.