UAE firm gets okay to build $43 bln Pakistan city

ISLAMABAD, Sep 27 (Reuters) Pakistan gave approval in principal on Wednesday for Emaar Properties of United Arab Emirates to go ahead with a billion project to build a model city near Karachi.

Emaar, which will have 85 percent equity in the project, will develop two islands, Bundal and Buddo, near Karachi into a city with state-of-the-art facilities, Ashfaque Hasan Khan, an advisor to the prime minister, told reporters.

''It will be just like another Dubai,'' Khan told Reuters later. ''It will consist of everything. Residential buildings, theme parks, offices, just about everything.'' ''We want to build it because it will create new jobs, bring in investment, create new housing and a new city,'' he added.

Pakistan's Port Qasim Authority will hold 15 percent in the form of land, Khan said after a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee, the country's top-decision making body on economic issues.

The project is expected to take about 13 years.

Khan said approval in principal for the project had been given after all formalities were completed. Legal documents would be completed within three months.

REUTERS KR KP2110