PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government informed the provincial assembly on Tuesday that it was going to reverse the handover of rest houses owned by different departments to the tourism department as the move didn’t generate the expected revenue.

“The revenue from rest house leasing hasn’t met expectations,” law minister Aftab Alam told an assembly session chaired by Deputy Speaker Suriya Bibi here.

The minister said the move was already endorsed by the provincial cabinet.

The decision to give the control of 169 rest houses owned by government departments to the tourism department for their operation on a commercial basis was made in the first tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government (2013-18).

Opposition criticises ruling PTI’s another ‘U-turn’

“The rest houses handover decision was made with the good intention of improving revenue generation,” the minister told the assembly.

He said 17 out of the total rest houses were leased out through open auction, which was properly advertised in the newspapers, but the lease didn’t generate the anticipated revenue.

“Now, all rest houses will be handed back to the parent departments for operation,” he said.

The mover, MPA Rehana Ismail informed the house that the rest house leases were awarded at throwaway rates, with no benefit for the provincial exchequer.

She criticised the provincial government for taking decisions without proper homework, causing huge losses to the kitty.

“Handing over of rest houses to the parent departments is another U-turn by the ruling PTI,” she said.

The lawmaker urged the chair to refer her question on the matter to the relevant house committee for a detailed discussion and find the causes of failure of the move and financial losses to the exchequer.

Through a calling attention notice, PPP member Ahmed Kareem Kundi informed the house that the provincial police, instead of providing security to the foreign investors taking interest in the mines, were harassing them on different pretexts.

He said that more than 100 godowns of precious stones exist in the provincial capital and the local dealers bring Islamabad based foreign investors to show them the materials they purchased from the lease holders in the province.

“Foreign investors show great interest in our mine sector but they’re discouraged by harassment of police,” he said, adding that such tactics have a negative impact on the province’s economy.

He said that Peshawar was one of the big markets of gemstones in this region.

“The economy can’t be boosted in this province without facilitating investors,” he said.

Responding to the criticism of Mr Kundi, adviser to the chief minister on industries and commerce Abdul Kareem Khan said that the award of no objection certificate (NOC) was a serious issue but it was handled by the federal government.

He said that the province had largereserves of mines and minerals but the investors were being discouraged in the name of standard operating procedures framed by the federal government.

“These SOPs are a big hurdle to investment in the mines and minister sector of our province,” he said.

The aide to the CM said that a major Chinese company had agreed with the provincial government to invest money in digging and processing chromite but the federal government rejected the move, declaring it unfeasible.

The chair later adjourned the session until Friday.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024