Punjab rolls out a Rs1.99 trillion growth package
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has formally introduced the province’s PIVOT plan for 2026–29 — short for Punjab Innovation, Value Addition and Economic Transformation. The package is costed at Rs1,995.3 billion. Planners say it should generate $6.8 billion in extra export receipts, open 162,000 direct jobs and lift livelihoods for more than a million people.
At the ceremony she argued that Punjab needs a growth path built around factories, fresh ideas, higher-value products and overseas sales. She said the province wants investors to feel secure enough to put capital to work, firms to scale up, and residents to find steadier work.
Who was in the room — and how the money is split
The launch drew industrialists, bankers, diplomats and development partners. Investors present included Arif Habib, Mian Mansha, Osman Khalid Waheed, Ziad Bashir and Fawad Mukhtar. State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmad attended with senior commercial-bank executives. Staff from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB, a regional lender) and United Nations agencies joined members of the diplomatic corps. Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman, cabinet colleagues and district officers were also there.
Maryam Nawaz told investors that Punjab wants their capital and will ease the path for business, while expecting industry — not the state alone — to drive expansion. Financing architecture under the plan pairs Rs1,089 billion in public spending with a hoped-for Rs906 billion from private investors.
A core pillar is the Strategic Trade Enhancement Programme, or STEP. It sketches Rs300 billion in softer loans for qualifying firms, with interest between zero and five per cent depending on programme rules, and a digital portal to apply. Roughly Rs753.7 billion is steered toward factories, manufacturing growth, value addition and export strength. Another Rs50 billion is marked for rooftop solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS — equipment that stores electricity) to ease industrial power costs, plus Rs50 billion to reimburse machinery duties so plants can modernise. Focus trades include textiles and garments, sports goods, leather and footwear, surgical tools, medicines, fans, cutlery, steel and ceramics, backed by testing labs, certification sites and ready industrial plots.
Farms, skills, tourism and digital services
Officials also want farming to move past raw produce. Four specialised agro-processing parks are proposed for Sargodha, Khanewal, Okara and Bhakkar to cut waste after harvest and link growers to higher-value chains. Work is sketched for wheat, citrus, potatoes and mangoes, with export finance for horticulture and floriculture and horticulture authorities in 20 districts. Livestock, dairy, aquaculture, and halal meat and milk chains are listed for further support.
Skills schemes under the three-year window aim to train 402,060 people for manufacturing, newer commercial lines and technology work. Tourism infrastructure upgrades are meant to build destination economies and draw private hospitality spending. On the reform side, the E-Biz drive would digitise 300 administrative services, place 2,000 firms on e-commerce platforms, refresh labour rules, reshape public-private partnerships and lease state land across nine productive sectors. At the event, Arif Habib also signalled interest in building what he described as Pakistan’s tallest commercial tower.
How delivery will be watched
Governance would sit with a PIVOT Board led by Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb for the chief minister, a secretariat inside the Planning and Development Department, and a cell in the Chief Secretary’s Office. Deputy commissioners would act as district anchors. A central dashboard and an industry scorecard are meant to track milestones and flag delays. Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman said the concept should be made operational within six months.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Punjab ki CM Maryam Nawaz ne teen saal ka PIVOT plan shuru kiya hai, jo lagbhag Rs1.99 trillion ka hai. Is se zyada exports, nayi naukrian aur karobar ke liye sasta loan milne ka wada hai. Factories, kheti processing aur skills training pe paisa lagaya jayega. Agar yeh kaam waqt par chale to logon ko rozgar aur behtar income ka mauqa mil sakta hai.
