The NWFP Governor, Lieutenant General Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai (Retd), has stressed the need for giving due importance to the promotion of education and research in the field of engineering, especially in the mining sector and said that both the province and Fata are blessed by nature with tremendous mineral resources and there is dire need to produce engineers of required knowledge to make the hidden wealth beneficial for the respective people.
Addressing as the chief guest at the Convocation - 2007 of NWFP University of Engineering and Technology on Wednesday, the Governor particularly mentioned the deposits of marble, oil and gas, copper and coal and remarked, "in fact the government is already following a concrete strategy in respect".
For this purpose, he added, earth breaking for launching of marble cities in Mohmand Agency in Fata and Risalpur near Nowshera in the province will be performed shortly.
In fact, Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai said, in Mohamand Agency, the marble deposits are determined to be more than 1400 billion tones where its different kinds are stretched like parallel veins in the length and breadth of the agency and tremendous foreign exchange could be earned through this process.
Similar is the case in respect of certain other districts of the province and agencies of Fata and more marble cities will also be established at the feasible sites. Highlighting the importance of the higher education, the Governor said, history tells us that the nations which were able to harness their thought processes, have always been in the forefront, and have made resounding progress in all walks of life. The one time glory of the Muslim Empire, he added, also owed to its advancement in scientific knowledge when people like Ibne Seena and Khawarizmi had left their mark in the world of science.
It is irony, he remarked, the Muslim World is blessed with a wealth of minerals and oil, but unfortunately does not have processing capabilities of required standards. As a result, he said, the combined GDP of the entire Islamic World is around 1100 billion dollars, which is less than the GDP of France, which is about 1500 billion dollars.
Similar is the case in respect of education which, he remarked, could be judged from the fact that the entire Islamic World has a total number of about 50,000 scientists as compared to 35,000 in Israel alone.
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