Site selected for salt and gypsum city in Karak

KARAK: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has identified land for establishing a salt and gypsum city in the district to explore the resources to create more job opportunities.

“The Khyber Pakht-unkhwa Economic Zone Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC) has been tasked with accomplishing the ambitious initiative, which will ensure a constant supply of gypsum and salt to the market,” said an official.

Chief Executive officer of the company, Javed Khattak, told reporters that the site was selected as a site on main old Bannu Road in Banda Daud Shah tehsil.

“The site was selected during my recent trip to the district,” he said, adding the land stretched over 200 acres of land.

The company had sent a letter to the deputy commissioner k to impose section 4 for acquisition of the proposed site, the official said.

The Kohat Division had also large reserves of mineral salt and gypsum, he said, adding, KP had 92 percent share in the country’s total gypsum reserves and out of it the Kohat division contributed 89 percent high-quality gypsum.

He said that despite the immense reserves, the share of Pakistan in global exports of gypsum was only estimated to be 0.6percent.

The salt and gypsum city in Karak district would facilitate the mine owners of the district with world-class infrastructure and utilities to set up their industries, he went on to add.

The CEO said that the establishment of such an infrastructure would not only help the manufacturers in diversification and value addition of the minerals but would also help in production of export-oriented products.