PESHAWAR:Special Assistant to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Industry, Abdul Karim Khan on Thursday called for expediting work on the policy of supplying electricity to industries in KP on wheeling charges.
“If this policy is implemented, it will give an impetus to the industrialization policy of KP and attract more industries besides creating livelihood facilities for people at this difficult time of economic recession.”
He expressed these views while talking to media persons, after performing inauguration of a marble and granite industrial unit and ground breaking of a road project in Mohmand Industrial Zone – one of the 14 newly established industrial clusters by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC), during the last couple of years.
The CM aide said that the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) was working on several micro hydropower projects in the province to provide energy. The supply of affordable and uninterrupted electricity to industry would promote industrialization in the region reeling through the impact of decades long wave of militancy and terrorism.
Abdul Karim said that work should be done for supplying electricity to industry from Malakand Hydel Power and Pehur Hydropower project on wheeling charges.
In the prevailing economic crisis, it was imperative to take such measures that would provide an ease to businessmen and attract foreign investors, Karim added.
He said that with the inauguration of a new industrial unit, the number of total operational units in Mohmand Industrial Zone had reached eight. “Work on 13 is in progress, and three are near completion which will become operational soon.
The industries established in Mohmand are related to marble and granite, steel fabrication and stone crushing.
“In the newly established industrial zones, the KPEZDMC is providing modern facilities, including 24/7 electricity, foolproof security, water supply, and facilitation in dealing with different government departments”, he added.
The KPEZMDC has also inked an MoU with the Bank of Khyber (BoK) for opening branches in these industrial zones, and soon a BoK branch will be set up in Mohmand.
He also demanded exemption of sales tax on electricity for industries set up on economic zones as were allowed to industries performing out of the zones.
“For a level playing field, these industries should also be provided the same facility as is being provided to others for ensuring fair competition in production cost”, Karim stressed.
He said the KP government, through the KPEZDMC, had set up 14 new industrial zones besides upgrading three existing ones.
“These measures have resulted in setting up of a number of industries in the province, and provision of employment in thousands of numbers.
“In D.I. Khan, at Darzanda there was only one industrial unit, and now 15 are operational after establishment of the industrial zone”, he added.
About the Mohmand industrial zone, he said, a summary had been moved to the Board of Investment to declare it a ‘Special Economic Zone’, which in future would be connected to Torkham by a road for onward trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics.