KP govt to establish mineral development company

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to establish an international standard mineral development and management company to develop the mines and minerals development sector in the province on modern lines.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Mines and Mineral Development Department at Chief Minister’s House the other day with Chief Minister Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in the chair, said a handout.

Provincial Minister for Law, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Industries, chief secretary, additional chief secretaries and administrative secretaries of relevant departments attended the meeting. The chief minister directed the authorities concerned to complete all the required homework to this effect in minimum possible time and table the matter to the provincial cabinet for formal approval.

Once established, the communique said, the proposed company would facilitate effective and efficient use of mineral resources and attract national and foreign investment.

The meeting also decided to make regulatory mechanisms more effective with the purpose to ensure better management of the mineral resources. Necessary amendments in the relevant legal framework would be made for this purpose. Various initiatives proposed for introducing modern mechanical mining were also discussed in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that mechanical mining mechanism was needed, because the conventional and old method of mining causes wastage to valuable mineral resources of the province. He directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps for introducing mechanical mining mechanisms across the province so as to ensure full advantage of available mineral resources.

The chief minister also directed them to take result-oriented steps against illegal mining activities on river beds. Similarly, he said that all the companies working in the mineral sector should be bound to install their processing plants within the province.

Ali Amin Khan Gandapur maintained that work on the installation of CCTV Cameras for monitoring mineral leases in the province should be geared up, adding that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was replete with precious mineral resources. He also ordered for ease of doing business to attract foreign investment, and added that it is also the priority of the provincial government to ensure utilization of available natural resources in an effective and useful manner, thereby enhancing income generation of the province. “We need an efficient asset management system to achieve this purpose,” he said, adding the provincial government would extend its all-out support for strengthening productive sectors of the province. The meeting also decided to establish gems and jewelry city in Peshawar, which would have a state of the art laboratory and other allied facilities.