The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has decided to expedite implementation of five major industrial incentives announced under Provincial Industrial Policy 2016 for attracting maximum domestic and foreign investment and industrialisation in the province.
These incentives offered by the provincial government under Industrial Policy 2016 included; 50% waiver in mark up on industrial loans for five years to enable local industry to provide cheap products, 25% concession in electricity bills for three years for industrial units producing new value added products, 25% discount on land purchase for industrial units, 25% assistance on transportation of industrial machinery and 25% grant for female entrepreneurs.
The decision on expediting of the implementation of industrial policy was made in a meeting of the special committee on Implementation of Provincial Industrial Policy under the chairmanship of KP Finance Minister Muzaffar Said at Civil Secretariat Peshawar.
The meeting also took stock of revival of the sick or closed industrial units in the province and streamlining the Bank of Khyber for extension in limits of industrial loans wherein a number of decisions were also made in light of the proposals and recommendations.
The meeting besides the administrative secretaries and authorities of Finance, Industry, Labour , P&D and other related departments was also attended by Senator Mohsin Aziz, Vice Chairman Board of Investment and Trade, Advisor to Chief Minister on Industries, Abdul Kareem, Zulfiqar Ali President KP Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mohsin Sayed CEO KP Economic Zone and Management Company and other experts.
The Finance Minister agreed with the proposal to maintain the maximum limit of Rs10 billion industrial loans for each industrial party. He asked for early submission of the report of the committee for revival of sick industrial units and home work for copping the applicants of sick units as per advertisement.
He expressed the confidence that as many as Rs30 billion could be attracted in the province by reviving the closed units. He asked for achieving the set targets and cherishing the mission of economic self-sufficiency. He said provincial government has allocated approximately Rs3.5 billion for 36 mega projects in industrial sector and it was high time to meet all the targets.
Muzaffar Said Advocate made clear that our new industrial policy would be implemented in letter and spirit and such industrial units would be preferred that could provide maximum job opportunities to our talented youth and general man power.
He said that his government has fixed two major targets of producing cheap electricity and promoting quality technical education on economic front that he said could improve our industrial base and considerably increase employment opportunities. He appreciated the role of Senator Mohsin Aziz in promoting the cause of industrial growth in the province.