24 January 2004	Saturday	01 Zilhaj 1424

ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Noraiz Shakoor Khan on Friday said the biggest hurdle in the way of exploiting Balochistan's natural resources was the fragile security conditions in that province.

He was answering questions during the question hour in the Senate. Agreeing to suggestions by many members, the minister said no doubt there was huge mineral wealth in Balochistan, including gas, oil, iron ore and zinc, but added that the security handicap had forced the government to move rather cautiously.

His sweeping statement about security conditions attracted rebuttal from senators belonging to Balochistan who accused the centre of monopolizing the award of exploration contracts instead of devolving these powers to provinces.

The minister then referred to some incidents in which the exploration team members, including foreigners, were targeted by outlaws in Balochistan. He then asked public representatives to back the government's efforts for exploiting to the fullest the natural resources of Balochistan.

The minister said the government was paying royalty on gas produced in Balochistan. He said efforts were afoot to provide gas to Ziarat, Khuzdar, Kalat, Qila Abdullah and other towns.

Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party, Raza Mohammad Raza of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Azizullah Satakzai of the MMA debunked the minister's claim that there was a potential threat that was blocking the launch of mineral exploration projects.

Prof Khurshid Ahmed of the MMA, through a supplementary question, asked the minister as to why the work on oil-wells awarded in 2002 was still not completed. In a written reply, the petroleum ministry had informed the house that out of a total of 22 gas fields, 12 were at the appraisal stage and six at the production stage.

The minister replied that the government had to give extension to some of the foreign companies since they had not completed their tasks. In reply to another question, the petroleum ministry stated that petrol was imported at Rs17.10 a litre and diesel at Rs14.75 a litre to which Rs14.14 and Rs7.25 was, respectively, added as taxation.

The house was informed that the agreement with the Central Asian states for gas import envisaged the laying of a 1,700km pipeline from Turkmenistan which would benefit consumers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and possibly, India.

In reply to a question about the tourism industry, the Senate was informed that Saudi investors had desired to build tourism resorts along the motorway and some hotels.

The minister of state for tourism, Rais Munir Ahmed, said there was no tourism resort of international standards in the country and that the ministry had planned to build a few. However, he added, much of its success depended on quantum of funds to be released by the finance ministry.

The minister said that due to law and order situation, foreign tourists could not be allowed to travel freely in the country without their screening by security agencies. He said there were plans to develop amusement parks in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.