PESHAWAR: The board of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Special Economic Zone Authority (KPSEZA) on Monday approved a proposal to recommend to Board of Investment (BoI) to give status of special economic zone to Daraban economic zone and Fatima Cement in Dera Ismail Khan district.

A statement issued here said that following the approval of BoI, those industrial setups would be given the status of special economic zones. It said that the approval was granted in a meeting of KPSEZA board held here with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair.

Special Assistant to Chief Minister for Industries Abdul Karim, Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah and other officials attended the meeting.

CM terms development of industries top priority

It said that the board under the relevant provisions of SEZ Act, 2012 approved the proposals of both the projects to be recommended for the status of SEZs. The multi-purpose Daraban SEZ will initially be set up on 1,000 acres of land with a capacity to be expanded to 3,000 acres of land later on.

The zone will be established with an estimated cost of Rs7.8 billion that would create 40,000 direct and 120,000 indirect employment opportunities. Mainly, the SEZ will have mineral and food industries.

The meeting approved the recommendation of Fatima Cement to be declared as SEZ. It will be the first private sector SEZ of the province. It would be set up with an estimated cost of Rs51.9 billion, having the capacity to generate about 500 direct and about 4,000 indirect employment opportunities.

The board reviewed implementation of the decisions taken in its last meeting. The forum was informed that feasibility study was completed for establishment of ‘centre of excellence’ in Mohmand Marble City. The feasibility report has been submitted to BoI for further submission to Joint Working Group for its inclusion in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects. Progress is being made on acquisition of additional 140-acre of land for Mohmand Marble City.

In the first phase, 10 megawatts electricity has been provided to Rashakai SEZ. Work on supply of 160 megawatts electricity in the second phase of the project will be completed in the current month. Work on provision of 50 megawatts more electricity in the third phase of the project will be completed in December.

Similarly, work on provision of 10 megawatts electricity to Hattar SEZ has been completed in the first phase. Work on provision of 40 megawatts electricity will be completed in the current month while work on supply of 110 megawatts more electricity to the SEZ will be completed in December next year.

Chief Minister termed development of industries on sustainable grounds in the province one of the top priorities of the government.

He said that government was taking result-oriented steps under a well-planned strategy to boost industrial activities to provide maximum employment opportunities to the people of the province.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2022