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$1bn green varsity in Sindh by 2014
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Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The Sindh government has allotted a plot of land to Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) to establish Pakistan's first-ever Green University with the cost of $1 billion.
The Vice Chairman, Sindh Board of Investment (SBOI) and Advisor to Chief Minister Sindh, Zubair Motiwala said that this is going to be the largest ever single FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) by any investor in Sindh and if the project gets commissioned in 2014, it would be the remarkable success to the SBOI in its endeavour to bring investment to the country.
The green university would be spread on a land of over 800 acres at Link Road, Gadap Town near Karachi where the provincial government has planned to set up Education City.
The constructed area of the proposed university would be approximately 200,000 metres, the biggest constructed area in any university in Pakistan, he said adding that the land allotted to the project has already been developed and the investors have already spent $40 million on lease of land, feasibility, construction of some laboratories, green-rooms and other amenities.
The advisor further said that entire area of the proposed university would be smoke and pollution free and no vehicles would be allowed to enter inside and instead of that battery operated cars and trolleys would be used for the transport and logistics.
He said that if everything goes well, the fits batch from the university would pass out in 2020.
He said that global environment and several restrictions by the USA, EU, and other Western countries' education institutions and their governments have made extremely difficult for the Pakistani students to study abroad and considering the situation foreign universities are willing to establish their campuses in the proposed Education City in Sindh, he said adding that foreign students would also be able to study in such universities including green university by AKF bringing the precious foreign exchange to the country.
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