No investment coming to KP despite positive indicators

PESHAWAR: Despite the steps taken by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the positive indicators, neither foreign nor local investment is coming to the province.
The efforts of the provincial government to lure investment have seemingly broken down.According to the data available with The News, the KP government initiated several measures to create an environment conducive to foreign and local investment in the province, but it has yet to attract another major investor.
Soon after its installation, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led coalition government established an investment cell at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and re-organised the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment (KPBOIT) to bring and manage investment in the province.
However, the Chief Minister Investment Cell became dormant after the death of its head Rafaqatullah Babar, who was an economist, last year. As far as KPBOIT is concerned, it is still struggling to bring investment to the province.
The data shared with organisations carrying out public assessment of indicators of quality governance across the provincial governments indicated that a number of investment-friendly measures have put KP even ahead of Punjab. Still this failed to lure investors.
The data available with The News showed that investment friendliness in KP has improved as it rose to 45 percent over the last two years. In Punjab it remained 44 percent, and in Balochistan 32 percent. The ratio of investment friendliness was just 20 percent in Sindh over the period.
It also indicated that better management of economy improved investment friendliness in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa among all provinces as the KPBOIT is functioning effectively and the Economic Zones Development and Management Company (EZMDC) has been established and is headed by private investors to ensure better management. The 11 industrial estates have already been handed over to the EZMDC.
It also showed that to attract investment in the

public sectors institutions, the provincial government has promulgated the Public Private Partnership Act allowing the private sector to invest in the public sectors institutions and run their management.
Tax collection is another area where KP surpassed all other federating units.The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) has been established and it collected Rs6.3 billion in 2014-2015. Its revenue target is Rs12 billion for the current fiscal.
The tax collection by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was quantified at 48 percent. In Punjab, the biggest province, it was 35 percent followed by 33 percent in Balochistan. The tax collection ratio remained 40 percent in Sindh during 2014-15.
The utility bills collection at 55 percent in KP is better than other provinces except Punjab where it is 60 percent. In Sindh the utility bills collection is 40 percent and in Balochistan it stands at 39 percent.
The management of employment has been effective in KP as the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) was established and Rs1.2 billion was disbursed under the Khud Khifalat microfinance scheme.
The Youth Challenge Fund to foster entrepreneurship operation was also launched in KP. An amount of Rs120 million is being utilised on the stipends for the unemployed youth.
These measures put Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ahead of all other provinces with its management of employment score of 41 percent. In comparison, it is 25 percent in Punjab, 12 percent in Sindh and just 9 percent in Balochistan.
Despite these positive indicators, the KP government could not attract foreign investment during the last one year. This is despite the fact that terror incidents, deemed as one of the factors for low investment in the province, fell from 1020 in 2013-14 to 685 in 2014-15.
Two Investment Road Shows have already been organized. The first one was in Karachi and the second in Dubai on January 25 this year. At the Dubai event, 12 Letters of Interest for investment of $1.2 billion were received from foreign investors for potential projects, including the $200 million oil refinery in Kohat.
However, none of the investment offers could materialize over the last one year or so. As a member of the KPBOIT while seeking anonymity remarked, this showed the government’s inability to initiate any mega project.