PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtun-khwa has launched a company to accelerate industrialisation with main focus on the projects along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route to expedite economic growth in the militancy-ravaged province. This was announced by Mohsin Syed, chief executive officer (CEO) of the newly formed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZMDC) and Ghulam Dastagir, chairman of the Board of Director (BoD) of the KPEZMDC. They were jointly briefing the media after the company’s BoD meeting here on Tuesday. They said that the company planned to develop four new industrial estates including Hattar Industrial Estate, Phase-VII, Ghazi Industrial Estate, Jalozai Industrial Estate and Rashakai Industrial Estate, while industrial estates in Dera Ismail Khan and Karak-Gurguri would also be developed at the later stage. Similarly, the KPEZDMC also plans to rehabilitate Hayatabad Industrial Estate, Gadoon Industrial Estate and Hattar Industrial Estate and the government has already acquired 424 acres of land at the cost of Rs379 million to develop the new Phase-VII of Hattar Industrial Estate, Mohsin told the press briefing. Both said that the government would spend Rs. 1186.431 million on the development of the infrastructure of the Phase-VII that would raise the total cost of the project to Rs. 1565.431 million. They added that Rs400 million had been allocated at the Annual Development Programme (ADP) while Rs783.431 million would be financed through sales of plots of land in the estate. The CEO of KPEZMDC attached immense importance to the Phase-VII of the Hattar Industrial Estate, saying the Hattar-7 has an unmatched significance as it falls along the route of the CEPC and the company would strive to take full advantage of the opportunity. “It will lead to the creation of enormous opportunities in terms of job openings and strengthening of manufacturing sector,” Mohsin Syed added. He added that KPEZMDC was governed by a Board of Directors as notified by Department of Industries, Commerce and Technical Education, having public and private representation with a ratio of 25 and 75 percent respectively. He said the company would plan to hold an industrial road-show in the province for the first time in its history to showcase the opportunities the province offered for investments. “Besides, other formalities, the KPEZDMC will strive to ensure power supply, gas and water to the industrial estates,” he said. He added that sick units, which are facing power, capital resource shortages, would be provided assistance so that these units could be revived. He said hydropower generated in the province that has not been transmitted to the national grid would be provided at cheaper rates to the industrial units being set up in the province. He said it would boost industrialisation in the province. Ghulam Dastagir, who also briefly spoke on the occasion, said that around 2,200 units were functioning in the province that were providing over 100,000 jobs in a variety of fields.
