Maryam Nawaz launches a Rs1.99tn three-year programme before the SBP governor and Pakistan’s top industrialists; the province’s Rs1,089bn share is larger than this year’s entire development budget.
LAHORE: Punjab on Friday launched a three-year economic plan that it says will lift exports by $6.8bn and create 162,000 jobs by 2029, betting nearly Rs2tn of public and private money on factories, farms, tourism and skills to make the province the engine of Pakistan’s recovery.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif unveiled the Punjab Innovation for Value, Opportunity and Transformation (PIVOT) programme and an accompanying STEP portal at a ceremony in Lahore attended by State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmad, members of the Pakistan Business Council and some of the country’s best-known industrialists.
The plan, covering 2026-29, envisages Rs1,089bn in government investment and Rs906bn from the private sector. The government says it will improve the lives of one million people.
Now with a timeline, still without a funding plan
When the provincial cabinet approved the outline of the Rs1.995tn programme last week, it gave no timeframe. Friday’s launch fixed it at three years, which works out to roughly Rs363bn of provincial money a year if spread evenly.
That is still a heavy lift. Punjab cut its annual development programme for 2026-27 by about 40pc to Rs752bn, from Rs1,240bn, after surrendering Rs749bn to the federal government, Dawn reported in June. The government has not said whether PIVOT’s provincial share will come from that development budget, from off-budget borrowing, or from provincial banks and guarantee schemes.
Nor has it published which private investors have committed to the Rs906bn, or on what terms. Pledges announced at such launches are typically statements of intent rather than contracts.
Where the money goes
Industry takes the largest slice, with Rs753.7bn allocated to strengthen manufacturing. The plan includes Rs300bn in concessional loans for industrial projects at zero to 5pc interest, well below commercial bank rates, alongside machinery duty refunds and support for solar power and battery storage to offset high electricity costs.
The energy component matters to manufacturers who have faced night-time power cuts and tariffs among the highest in the region; the province has already planned battery-backed solar pilots for three industrial zones.
Target sectors include garments, sports goods, leather and footwear, pharmaceuticals, fans and ceramics. Reforms are promised in public-private partnerships, industrial land policy and labour regulation, which the chief minister described as business-friendly.
Farms, fish and food parks
Agro-processing parks will be built in Sargodha, Khanewal, Okara and Bhakkar for fruit processing, cold storage and grading, aimed at Punjab’s mangoes, citrus and potatoes. The plan also covers farm mechanisation, storage, meat and dairy processing, animal disease prevention and farm finance, while aquaculture projects will promote shrimp farming and export-oriented fisheries.
The farm-to-export push ties in with the chief minister’s Rs500bn food export goal discussed with Saudi Arabia’s new envoy this month.
Lahore after dark
Tourism is the most Lahore-focused strand. The plan lists investment opportunities around historical and religious sites, the Potohar region and Cholistan, and specifically the city’s night-time economy, an idea that would build on the Walled City’s food streets and its History by Night tours.
The skills component targets training for 402,060 people over three years in digital skills, IT internships and internationally recognised certifications, together with startup incubation. The figure differs from the chief minister’s remark at the same event that 600,000 more workers would be trained, which may cover programmes outside PIVOT.
Measuring the targets
The government did not say whether the $6.8bn is an annual or cumulative increase, and the difference is large. For scale, Pakistan exported $8.45bn of goods in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. An extra $6.8bn a year by 2029 would be a major lift for a province that produces a large share of the country’s textiles and almost all of its sports goods and surgical instruments; spread over three years, it would be far more modest.
The jobs target is more modest. Spread across the total investment, each of the 162,000 jobs would cost about Rs12.3m, a high ratio that suggests the plan is weighted towards capital-intensive projects and infrastructure rather than labour-intensive work.
Who will run PIVOT
Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman said a PIVOT secretariat would be set up in the Planning and Development Department, with a dedicated cell in his own office and deputy commissioners acting as focal persons in each district. The chief minister said investor facilitation and transparent monitoring would be central.
Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said turning the concept into a working programme within six months reflected the chief minister’s vision, and welcomed investors from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and elsewhere. She credited better law and order with restoring business confidence and recalled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s work on security and industrial energy costs.
Industry’s verdict
Nishat Group chairman Mian Mansha praised the improvement in Punjab’s law and order. Arif Habib, whose group is among the country’s largest investors, announced plans to build Pakistan’s tallest building at CBD One in Lahore’s Central Business District, saying the country needed programmes like PIVOT. He said he saw a reflection of Nawaz Sharif in the chief minister’s approach.
Fatima Group’s Fawad Mukhtar, Zaid Bashir and Usman Khalid Waheed also backed the initiative and pledged support. Governor Jameel Ahmad welcomed the launch but did not announce any central bank facility linked to it.
The government says PIVOT is meant to turn higher investment into exports, productive jobs and lasting growth. Its first test will be whether the Rs300bn loan window opens on schedule and whether the private pledges made in Lahore on Friday show up in the province’s investment data next year.
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