Raising domestic output: New industrial zones being established in K-P, says Speaker

Unemployment is the root cause of terrorism in the country, says K-P Assembly Speaker Karamatullah Khan.

HARIPUR:

Unemployment is the root cause of terrorism in the country and the provincial government is taking all necessary steps to curb this menace by creating jobs in the industrial sector.

This was said by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly Speaker Karamatullah Khan during the ground-breaking ceremony of the seventh phase of Hattar Industrial Estate (HIE) on Monday.

The project will be built at a cost of Rs379.83 million and will have a capacity of 316 industrial plots.

Khan was of the view that industrial development plays a pivotal role towards prosperity and that the government is committed to create a conducive environment for industrialisation by establishing new industrial zones in the province.

He said that K-P is bestowed with numerous natural resources and the government has devised a strategy to provide cheap electricity to the industrial sector by efficiently using these resources.

He urged entrepreneurs and workers to work closely with each other to boost the industrial sector and curb the menace of terrorism.

K-P Minister for Industries Ahmed Hussain Shah said that the government has increased the number of industrial zones from seven to 15, while four new industrial zones were also being built in the province. He went on to say that Rs22 billion would be spent on the industrial sector in the current fiscal year.

“The government is also working on hydel power projects to overcome the power crisis as loadshedding has a negative impact on the industrial sector. For this, Rs50 billion have been allocated,” he added.

In addition to that, an amount of Rs350 million have been earmarked for developing infrastructure in HIE, while 100 plots in Phase 7 have been allocated for overseas Pakistanis to attract foreign investors.

HIE is the biggest industrial estate in the province, having a total of 420 industrial units. According to official sources, 225 units are currently operating in the estate, while 90 have shut down and the rest are still developing.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2011.