K-P to get its first institute of petroleum technology

Government aims to address needs of skilled workforce in the sector

PESHAWAR: In order to meet the needs of its skilled workforce in the oil and gas sector, the federal government is establishing the first Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Institute of Petroleum Technology.

The institute would be built in the oil-and-gas-rich southern district Karak and will provide various courses including drilling, reservoir and operation of plants.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Oil and Gas Company Limited (KPOGCL) has prepared the PC-1 for the project, which would be financed through the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) of the federal government.



Although the federal government has earmarked Rs1 billion for the establishment of the institution, the PC-1, prepared by the KPOGCL, has put the cost at Rs2.530 billion.

Officials familiar with the development said that in the pre-Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) meeting, the K-P Planning and Development Department had objected over the gap between the PSDP and the PC-1 estimation of the cost and had asked for its rationalisation.

When asked about the issue, KPOGCL CEO Raziuddin told The Express Tribune, "I have taken up the issue with the Planning Commission (Islamabad) as we would need to build hostels, laboratories and buy equipment for the institute."

He said that the project had been approved by the PDWP in the last meeting and now the project is awaiting the approval of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP).

The institute will not be limited only for the students of Karak or K-P but for the whole country so they would need to establish hostels for the students (separate for male and female students) to accommodate them, he added.



The institute is set to be built on 200-250 kanals of land and the K-P government has sent a letter to the Kohat commissioner to acquire the land needed for the project. Raziuddin informed this reporter that the land acquisition is an issue since this large size of land is not easily available.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2017.

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