Industrialists Association Peshawar (IAP) has suggested to the NWFP government to use electricity generated through Malakand III project as an incentive attracting industrialists to invest in NWFP and Fata.
The Government can attract industrialists to invest in NWFP and Fata by selling the electricity generated through Malakand III project to industries located in these areas instead of Wapda, said Engr. Nauman Wazir, President of IAP.
Talking to APP, Nauman Wazir said NWFP government will sell the electricity generated through Malakand III project to Wapda at the rate of Rs 1.92 per unit.
Whereas, he continued, the same can be sold to the industries located in NWFP and Fata at the same rate through payment of wheeling charges to Wapda.
Presently, Nauman Wazir, who is also Director Fata Development Authority (FDA) said, the industries of NWFP and Fata are paying Rs 5 to 6 per unit to Wapda and provision of Malakand III electricity at cheap rate will not only provide a respite to the existing industries but also attract other industrialists to invest here for availing the opportunity. He informed that Malakand III is a NWFP government owned project completed at an estimated cost of around Rs six billion and would generate about 80 mega watts of electricity.
Nauman added that selling of electricity generated through the project to industries of the province through payment of wheeling charges to Wapda is in accordance with Nepra's rules and permitted by the authority.
He said NWFP and Fata are facing disadvantage due to its location and remoteness from the sea port as a result of which industrialists are not giving due attention to these areas.
The only way to attract industrialists is providing them some incentive and cheap electricity can prove to be a better attraction for inviting investment in the province, Nauman observed.
He said both NWFP and Fata are also faced with the problem of growing extremism which can only be tackled by providing job opportunities to the unemployed people. Industrialisation, he added, is the biggest source of economic development of population and government can woo industrialists through provision of cheap electricity.
He said Malakand electricity should not be dealt as a subsidy or incentive which are artificial and are withdrawn with the passage of time. This facility, he continued, should be considered as a deal between the government and the industrialists. He urged the caretaker Chief Minister NWFP, Shamsul Mulk to take up the issue and ensure proper utilisation of the project in the larger interest of the province and adjacent tribal area.