Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum's (PBIF) president Mian Zahid Hussain has said that inauguration of Karachi-Lahore gas pipeline by Russian president will bring the two countries more closer, besides giving a new lease of life to the industries of Punjab.
Speaking at a reception hosted by Punjab's business community, he said that Russian oil and gas companies are keen to invest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), but political tussle between the Centre and the province was a stumbling block in this regard. He said that it was amazing to note that Pakistani businessmen are reluctant to invest in the troubled region, while Russians are exploring investment opportunities there.
Deploring over lack of cooperation among different government departments, he said that KPK wanted to establish an 800MW power plant, but the federal government has not yet granted permission for it. He also alleged that central departments were not granting permission for exploration of oil and gas, operation of different wells even at those places where infrastructure has been completed, besides denying transmission facilities to a number of small power plants.
He urged the federal and provincial governments to cooperate with each other in the national interest. Earlier, FPCCI's former president Senator Haji Ghulam Ali hailed the increasing cooperation between Pakistan and Russia and commended the efforts of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and CoAS Raheel Sharif in this regard.