Daily Times

Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry has said that various sectors including mining, energy, Information technology (IT) and tourism have been identified as prioritized sectors for investment in the province. Speaking at a meeting with the business community of the province here at Civil Secretariat on Tuesday, he said that the provincial government will take investment in these sectors to SIFC (Special Investment Facilitation Council), saying investors in these sectors would be provided full facilities.

Besides, FPCCI Coordinator for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sartaj Ahmad Khan and representatives of various chambers, administrative secretaries, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Managing Directors (MDs) of the subsidiaries of the industries and finance departments attended the meeting.

The chief secretary said that Chinese investors are establishing a steel mill in the Rashakai Special Economic Zone. He said that local pharmaceutical safety match the industry and stressed the need for their value-addition. He said that Pak-Afghan trade, which was once US$ 1.5 billion is decreased to 600 million dollars and is in favour of Afghanistan and asked the business community to present proposals to make it in favour of our country. He said that hurdles in this regard would be taken with the federal government.

In response to the demands of the chambers, he assured the allocation of land at every district level for establishment of Gems Export City and District Economic Forums and directed the preparation of a summary to send it to Chief Minister for approval. He also agreed with the proposal of ‘One District with at least one Industrial Estate’ and setting up of a Gemstone Corner at Bacha Khan International Airport to promote the export of precious stones from the province.

For establishment of the Gem City, the chief secretary directed the formation of a working group headed by the Secretary Industries with members from Mining Department, KP Economic Zone Development & Management Company (EZDMC), Small Industries Development Board (SIDB) and one each representative from FPCCI and All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association (APCEA).

On this occasion, the Chief Secretary also directed the formation of a committee to activate Customs stations at Pak-Afghan border. The committee headed by the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) will be comprised of Home Secretary, Pakistan Customs and Frontier Corps. He further directed all Deputy Commissioners for holding monthly meetings with chambers including women members. Such meetings, he said should be held in first week of the month and their minutes shall be shared with him to resolve the problems of the business community on priority basis.

The chief secretary has also directed that all industrial estates of the province should have a police station and a complaint office of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO). During the meeting, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) KP-EZDMC, Javed Iqbal Khattak gave a detailed presentation on Rashakai Special Economic Zone and progress on other economic zones of the province and investment opportunities in them.

Earlier, the Coordinator of the Federation of Pakistan Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) Sartaj Ahmad Khan highlighted the problems of the business community of the province in detailed and also presented suggestions for their resolution.