KP govt signs $10.86 bn mega project agreements with FWO

CM says big housing schemes aimed at facilitating people

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday signed with the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) four agreements for as many mega projects worth $10.86 billion (Rs1,173 billion).

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak attended the signing ceremony at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, said an official handout. The mega projects will include Peshawar Model/Smart City Township, KP China Investment Plan (KPCIP)-M1 City Nowshera, three hydro power plants in Chitral, one cement plant at Haripur and one state-of-the-art oil refinery at Karak.

Lt-General Muhammad Afzal, Director General, FWO, Lt. General Khalid Asghar, Engineer-in-Chief, and KP government officials were at the signing ceremony. Later, briefing the mediamen, the chief minister said the provincial government had started negotiations with the FWO some six months back for these projects.

He said the provincial government wanted to construct a modern housing scheme in Peshawar over a land of 10,8000 Kanals, bigger than HayatabadTownship and another (KPCIP)-M1 City on Motorway over an area of 80,000 Kanals.

Pervez Khattak said both the schemes would cost $ 4.6 billion and $ 4.4 billion, respectively. He said that the construction of housing facilities was necessitated by the growing chances of investment in the backdrop of KP-China Investment Plan.

The chief minister said that both the schemes would provide housing space for a population of one million with commercial and modern facilities within these housing projects. The provincial government, he added, would get a net profit of Rs50 billion without investing a single penny in both the housing schemes.

He said that the housing schemes were necessary because of the upcoming foreign and domestic investment in the region. Regarding three hydro power projects, the chief minister said these costing $1.110 billion would generate 600 megawatts of electricity, overcoming the shortage of electricity and meeting the growing need for the upcoming industrialisation process.

He said the province needed electricity for its industrialisation process after investment agreements with the foreign investors. The provincial government, he said, would get a reasonable share in the hydro power projects without making any investment in these projects.

The chief minister said the agreement for the oil refinery was another landmark. He added that the FWO would construct an oil refinery costing $600 million. Pervez Khattak said the forth agreement was for the cement plant in Haripur with an investment of $160 million. He hoped the provincial government would get a reasonable profit through it.