Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pervez Khattak informed that a high level provincial delegation will visit China in August to highlight the potential advantages of Chinese investments in KP. Pervez Khattak said this while presiding over a high level meeting to chalk out plans for the upcoming visit of a high level provincial delegation to China here at the CM secretariat that was also attended by the Provincial Minister for Education Muhammad Atif Khan, Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan, Administrative Secretaries for Home, Finance and Irrigation, CEO KPOGCL, Chief Executive PEDO and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade.
Chief Minister Khattak said, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was replete with many natural resources and his government was all-set to offer healthy dividends to investors and in this regard the KP government had already planned to set-up one-window service to facilitate potential Chinese investors.
Pervez Khattak said, the KP government is pursuing a path of rapid industrialisation and development and therefore is keen on systematically harnessing the provinces gas and hydel reserves for the benefit of the province and these initiatives will generate much needed employment opportunities and bring qualitative change in the lives of the people of KP.
He said, the high level provincial delegation to China in August will explore plans for construction of a circular railway around Peshawar and also hold talks for construction of a 225 to 500 megawatt power generation plant with the Chinese government to cater to the energy demand of upcoming industrial units in industrial estates, adding, that due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the establishment of industrial estates in KP with help from Chinese investors, Chinese firms will benefit from investments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he also said, that the steel and readymade garment manufacturing sectors are high on the priority list for industrialisation in KP.
CM Khattak further said, Chinese labour costs are up by USD 4,000 per annum while Pakistani labour costs are USD 1,500 per annum, thus attracting Chinese labour towards Pakistan is a challenge.
He also said, the high level provincial delegations visit to China in August will further also explore possibilities for attracting Chinese automobile manufacturers to Pakistan, since Pakistan has a huge potential in the automotive sector and can easily break the monopoly of Japanese car manufacturers, he concluded by saying, the delegation will also strive to underscore other potential investment opportunities in Pakistan.