KP businessmen want Punjab afforestation project replicated

PESHAWAR: Traders and business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have called for the replication of Punjab afforestation project in the province to promote forestry investment.

Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) president Muhammad Afzal on Friday requested Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to replicate the project so that forest cover could be improved in the province besides promotion of forestry investment.

He expressed these views while speaking after presentation of South Punjab Forest Company (SPFC) at the chamber.

SCCI Senior Vice President, Muhammad Iqbal, Vice President Abid Khan leading industrialists including former president SCCI, Syed Zulfiqar Ali, and others were present on the occasion.

Director Project Operations of the SPFC, Hafiz Muhammad Arsalan, made the presentation.

He apprised the participants about the objectives of the projects and incentives offered by the Punjab government for investment in forestry sector of the province.

The company, Muhammad Arsalan added, has been formed for afforestation across six districts of south Punjab under the public-private partnership.

A total of 99,077 acres of land in the form of 187 forest lots of various sizes in Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan are being offered to the investors for 15 years so that commercial forestry and range management activities can be done.

The project has ecological and economic benefits as it will help to sequester carbon emissions, adapt and mitigate climate change, provide livelihood opportunities to local communities and most importantly sustain the wood-based industry. It will help to save the remaining forests of Pakistan.

Hafiz Arsalan assured the businessmen that interest of investors have been ensured through the act of parliament, Punjab Forest Act and Public-Private Partnership Act 2014.