PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and a group of Malaysian investors on Tuesday signed three memorandums of understandings (MoUs) to bring multi-billion rupees investment to the province.

The MoUs signing ceremony took place at Chief Minister’s House.

It was attended by former prime minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who led the group of investors, and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

On the occasion, officials of provincial government and Malaysian investors singed three MoUs regarding micro-finance, halal food processing and oil and gas exploration.

Under the agreements, Malaysian Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) would set up a food processing unit at Ghazi Economic Zone Haripur.

Three multi-billion rupees MoUs signed

Under the agreement with Bank of Khyber (BoK), the Malaysian investors would make investment in Islamic micro-financing while an Islamic holding company would also be set up.

The third MoU was signed with KP Oil and Gas Company Limited for oil and gas exploration in the province.

Talking to journalists, the chief minister said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would provide about 90 acres of land for setting up the food processing company.

He said that the company would invest in Halal meat, cosmetics, medicine and health supplements besides verifying as to which of the existing products were Halal. He said that currently there was no such system.

Mr Khattak said that he had cordial discussion with the former Malaysian prime minister. “We have to follow Malaysian model for development,” he added.

The chief minister said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) changed economic vistas of the country as well as the province. He said that CPEC and improvement in security were bringing investment to the province.

He said that they would accommodate all investors in the province.

Mr Khattak said that steps taken by provincial government for industrialisation and investment made the province the most attractive destination for both national and international investment.

He said that a separate force would be raised for security of all industrial zones.

He said that officials had already been identified for induction in the new force.

An official told Dawn that under the MoU, Malaysian company Petronas would invest in oil and gas explorations in at least five areas of the province. He said that estimated cost of oil and gas explorations in the five was Rs25 billion.

“Malaysian investment would be over Rs12 billion while provincial government would provide the remaining amount,” he added.

Ghulam Dastagir, chairman KP Economic Zones Development and Management Company (EZDMC), told Dawn that the investment under all three MoUs would be around US$1.2 billion.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2017