Meagre amount allocated for industries development: KP businessmen
 

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated Rs1.9 billion for the development of the industries in the province which many businessmen and industrialists think is **t sufficient to make the sector competitive at a time when it is facing numerous challenges.

The provincial government has allocated Rs2.44 billion for the sector which include Rs469 million current expenditures, while Rs1.97 billion has been set aside for the development portfolio of the sector.

In its last fiscal the provincial government had allocated Rs4.5 billion to revive the industries sector that was facing a slowdown following incidents of terror an militancy in the province.According to the official data, there are 2,881 industrial units among which 2,192 are operational while 362 of the industrial units are dysfunctional.

The government, as it claimed in the budget books, is trying to provide employment opportunities through revival of industrial sector and in this regard 40 new industrial units are being commissioned in the province.

Last year the provincial government in its budget White Paper reported that there were 2,481 industrial units in the province, 1,909 industrial units were functional while 334 were closed and 238 industrial units have been winded up.

The total investment in the province amounted up to Rs.136.880 billion which was providing direct employment to 71,340 people. The provincial government has also an**unced Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Industrial Policy 2016 (KPIP 2016) which, according to it, is based on creating employment opportunities by creating a facilitating environment for industrialist to set up new industrial units in new special eco**mic zones and to expand their existing industrial setup in existing industrial estates.

Special Assistant to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Industries Abdul Karim Khan has said the provincial government has under a new policy an**unced a number of incentives for the promotion of industrial development in the province including 25 percent subsidy on the cost of land and 25 percent payment by the government on electricity bills for three years.

He said government would share 25 percent of the total investment of those who would come to invest in the industrial sector in the provinces. Besides it will also bear 25 percent transportation charges on machinery and plant transportation.

Abdul Karim Khan said that over Rs1 billion has been earmarked for 26 schemes of industries sectors, besides preparing review reports of new campuses of University of Tech**logy at Swabi and Charsadda, new industrial zones would also be established in Peshawar.

He said 424 acre of land has been purchased for extending Hattar industrial Estate and the investors have expressed interest in investing Rs30 billion in this regard. A former member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (KPBOIT) and an industrialist, Muhammad Ishaq, said that the government’s efforts to develop industrial sector in the province couldn’t deliver even during the last few years.

He cited multiple reasons for what he termed a failure of the government to develop industries. He said that power shortage and lack of proper eco**mic policy in the post-18th Amendment scenario are the major causes of the collapse of the sector.

The industrialist added that around 30 units, including three match factories, had recently been closed down, while many of the units in the Hayatabad Industrial Estate have been restricted to one shift production.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KPCCI) President Zulfiqar Ali Khan said the industries and businesses in the militancy-hit province needed a turnaround, which the provincial government has **t yet envisioned.

He said the provincial government had an**unced a number of incentives in the new industrial policy which, if implemented, would auger well for the sector, but it at the same time imposed one percent Infrastructure Development Cess on the imports of the industrial inputs that would lead to further slowdown of the sector.





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