Awaiting development: MPAs from Karak, Kohat vie for oil refinery in their regions

Report on a suitable site for the plant due next week.

PESHAWAR:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPAs from Karak and Kohat districts are pitched against each other in a race to get a proposed oil refinery established in their respective regions.

The Awami National Party (ANP)  government had proposed setting an oil refinery in Karak. However, the interim government had decided to establish it in Kohat instead and a report to recommend a feasible site for the plant is due next week. Residents of Karak are apprehensive the refinery might actually be built in Kohat, resulting in elected representatives from both districts attempting to get the project for their areas.

The government has set up a committee of technical experts headed by Minister for Energy and Power Sikandar Sherpao. The committee will report and recommend a feasible site to establish the refinery.

Earlier in the week, Sherpao along with Pakistan State Oil (PSO) officials visited three prospective sites, including Khushal Garh and Shakardara in Kohat and Karappa in Karak. PTI’s elected representatives including Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi, Amjad Afridi and Ziaullah Bangash from Kohat and Gul Sahib Khan and Deena Naz from Karak were also present.

The ANP-led provincial government had pointed out Karappa in Karak district as a feasible location to set up the refinery with a capacity to refine 40,000 barrels of oil per day. However, the caretaker government had decided to establish it in Khushal Garh, Kohat instead, citing water problems.

The move caused anxiety among residents of Karak who considered it an attempt to deprive Karak of any chance of development, claiming the district should be granted the privilege as it is the largest producer of oil and gas in the region.

Faiz Khattak, a social activist, told The Express Tribune the composition of the committee makes it “crystal clear that this is a conspiracy to deprive Karak of its due rights.”

“The said committee has extra representation from Kohat. Imtiaz Shahid from Kohat has convinced Sherpao the refinery should be installed in Kohat and in return he would join Sherpao’s Qaumi Watan Party once PTI’s tenure is over,” alleged Khattak.

Karak MPA Deena Naz said Karappa is the most suitable location for the refinery as it is located only 10 kilometres away from the main gas and oil fields of Noshapa-Karak and thus an oil supply line would be easier to build. “The water requirements for the plant can be managed the same way as they were done for Shakardara-Kohat oil and gas fields – through a water pipeline from Kalabagh.”

Naz had earlier told Sherpao’s delegation setting up the refinery at Khushal Garh was tantamount to handing it over to Punjab as the area borders that province.

Gul Sahib Khan, another MPA from Karak, had also made a speech at the K-P Assembly floor demanding Karak not be deprived of development opportunities. He said the rights of the people would be compromised if the project was shifted elsewhere.

An official affiliated with the PTI said Imtiaz Shahid, who is also the deputy assembly speaker, is lobbying to get the refinery established in Shakardara-Kohat region as it is his constituency.

However, PTI leaders from Karak are adamant upon the site of the refinery being Karappa, as according to them, Shakardara is nearly 80 kilometres away from the production fields of Noshapa in Karak and the safety of the pipeline along such a long route could not be ensured.

A PTI insider maintained MPAs Amjad Afridi and Ziaullah Bangash from Kohat wish to see the refinery built in their constituency at Khushal Garh. He added Karak MPAs had asked their supporters to resort to protest demonstrations if Karappa was not proposed as the site for the refinery.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2013.