Kamal makes sales pitch for Balochistan tourism

Invites business community to invest in sector to profit from province’s turquoise beaches and splendid mountains

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani on Monday invited the business community to invest in the province’s tourism sector, assuring his government’s full support.

“The provincial government will provide facilities to all investors in a bid to promote tourism and culture in Balochistan. We are preparing a master plan for the development and upgrade of infrastructure in this regard,” Kamal said while addressing a seminar titled ‘Balochistan Tourism’ in Karachi.

“Balochistan has a 750km long coastal belt, turquoise beaches and splendid mountains in the Makran range,” said Kamal as he highlighted the province’s tourism potential.

Finance Minister Zahoor Buledi, CM advisor on Sports Abdul Khaliq Hazara, Sindh Minister for Culture Syed Sardar Ali Shah, Chief Secretary Balochistan Captain (retd) Fazeel Asghar, Shahzeb Kakar, Secretary Culture and tourism Zafar Ali Buledi, former information minister Dr Javed Jabbar, Aftab Rana and others also spoke on the occasion.

Kamal said the government was framing policies but to make Balochistan a major tourist attraction, the private sector too needed to play its ‘vital’ role.

“Without the support from the private sector and their cooperation, we cannot fully explore and tap the tourism potential,” he said. “Pakistan has a huge scope in tourism industry and if we as a nation spend our resources to promote it, we will not even need the foreign investors for this purpose,” Kamal added.

Talking about prevailing law and order in the province, the chief minister said the security situation had improved in Balochistan, thereby emphasising need to build confidence of the investors and tourists alike to portray a positive image of the country.

“The tourists will bring revenue and create job opportunities for the locals and if the public sector invests in Balochistan, the infrastructure will considerably improve as well,” Kamal said, adding that the Balochistan government has signed an MoU with Hashoo Group, through which at least 500 boys and girls will be provided training in hospitality within the country or abroad.

“Approximately 15,000 boys and girls will receive training in different sectors for the promotion of tourism in Balochistan,” Kamal said.

He further said the provincial government was preparing a master plan for province’s 750 kilometres long coastal belt, adding that roads and highways will be constructed across the province.

“At least 2,700 kilometer long roads will be constructed within the next three years in Balochistan,” Kamal maintained, adding that the government was taking measures to provide better facilities to the tourists coming to the province.

Kamal further insinuated that the provincial government will construct emergency centres on highways soon along with resorts, public toilets, gas stations and restaurants in order to promote tourism.

Performance to be assessed

Kamal also said that the performance of the government can be gauged by its development work in the province.

Taking to Twitter, Kamal noted he always shared the information and kept people cognizant about any progress work or legislative reforms on his micro-blogging website.

According to statistics shared by Kamal, he attended 36 meetings of the Balochistan Assembly during the past 17 months, gave 254 briefings and met 99 different delegations of which 38 were foreign delegations.

The chief minister convened 91 political meetings, 20 provincial cabinet meetings and attended 129 ceremonies. He made 99 official visits within the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2020.