Pakistan mineral deposits: a great opportunity for investors

Country holds treasure trove of granite, quartz, emerald etc

PESHAWAR:

Blessed with a variety of rare and precious marble and mineral resources, Pakistan stands out as a unique country, offering immense opportunities for domestic and international investors to earn maximum returns on their investments in this vital sector.

Pakistan’s western belt including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, erstwhile FATA and Balochistan besides major areas of Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Kashmir, parts of Sindh and Punjab have plenty of marble deposits including Granite, Chromite, Dolomite, Manganese, Nephrite, Feldspar, Ziyarat, Limestones, Silica Sand, Quartz, Coal and Emerald.

This huge variety of marble is a great opportunity for investors to explore in the pursuit of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government investor friendly economic and industrial policies which give upward boost to industrialisation, SMEs, trade and mineral sectors despite the prevailing pandemic.

Entire erstwhile FATA especially Bajaur, Khyber and Mohmand, KP’s Malakand division mostly Buner, Shangla and Swat districts and Khuzdar, Loralai, Mastung, Dal Badin and other western districts of Balochistan bordering with Afghanistan, are naturally rich in world class marble, granite and others mineral resources.

Investment in this profit-oriented sector would help create employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people besides taking the country’s industrial and economic growth to new heights.

Muhammad Bilal, Manager Marketing and Planning, Pakistan Stones Devolopment Company (PASDEC), Ministry of Industries and Production, told a local news outlet that the western belt of Pakistan including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are naturally blessed with marble reservoirs where approximately 2,000 processing units and 1,200 marble and mines quarries were producing quality marble on small and large scale besides providing direct and indirect employment to over 200,000 labourers and other work force.

He added that over 70 per cent marble quarries and processing units existing in K-P mostly in Bajaur, Mohmand, Swat, Buner and Shangla districts cater to the pressing demands of the growing construction industry.

Peshawar is a hub of precious Ziyarat and a variety of this marble is being exported. It was transported mostly from Mohmand district where hundreds of marble shops were opened on Warsak Road and Interior City, attracting domestic and international investors besides providing jobs to over 50,000 people.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2020.