Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said that the provincial government has already announced a new mineral policy while New Mining Act was also in the offing to check illegal mining in the province. He was addressing as chief guest at inauguration ceremony of the "Quarry Machinery Pool" established at Marble City, Risalpur, district Nowshera on Friday.
The Mineral Development Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in collaboration with Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) provided the modern machinery to facilitate the marble and granite miners and industrialists. The World Bank and Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) financially and technically assisted the provincial government for setting up the machinery pool under "Competitive Industries Project" and they will also assist in establishment of a training centre for the miners to equip them with modern quarry techniques and use of the machinery.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Mineral Development and Labour, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Industries, Abdul Karim Khan, president of KP Miners Association, Sher Bandi Khan, Chief Executive of Pakistan Stone Development Company, Zahid Sheikh and Secretary Industries, Aftab Akbar Durrani also spoke on the occasion.
The District Nazim Nowshera, Liaqat Khattak, MNA Dr Imran Khattak, MPA Farid Khan, Secretary Minerals, Dr Ataur Rahman, representatives of World Bank, MDTF and large number of industrialists and traders attended the function. He told that new industrial estates would be set up in Hattar, Ghazi, Jalozai, D.I.Khan and Nowshera and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government will pay five percent rebate on mark up of new industrial units and it would also pay 25 % concession on purchase of plots, machinery transportation expenditures and power charges for new industries.
Expressing satisfaction over making available the modern quarry machinery procured at a cost of four million dollars by KP government for marble and granite extraction, the Chief Minister said that the incentives and facilities under new industrial policy would be extended to marble and granite sector and such industries would also be especially accommodated in the new industrial estates and export processing zones of the province.
The Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said that nature has blessed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with rich treasures of precious metals, stones and other mineral reserves as well as wealth of oil and gas but, he regretted, unfortunately no serious effort was made in the past to exploit these sources for prosperity of the common people. He, however, said that absence of latest technology and machinery in the mining sector had been a major impediment for smooth progress towards minerals development and this hurdle had now been removed by launching of the Competitive Industries Project.
He told that the miners kept losing about 80 percent of the extracted minerals reserves due to redundant and conventional methods of mining as well as inadequate use of explosives. This situation resulted in inability of the marble and granite to have an access to or compete in international markets. He hoped that availability of the machinery and technology would help promote the marble and granite industry. Pervez Khattak directed the Mineral Department and PASDEC to formulate an easy rental policy for making the machinery available to the miners and also stressed the need for persuading them to use the new technology.
He said that new projects would also be launched to enhance the machinery pool. He told that management of four industrial estates has been handed over to autonomous company wherein all facilities of international standard would be provided at a cost of Rs 10 billion while all other estates will also be handed over to the company within one year.
Comments
Comments are closed.