QUETTA, Nov 11: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf has said the government will provide maximum incentives and facilities to industrialists in Gwadar.

Speaking at a ceremony held to inaugurate a rest-house in the Gwadar Industrial Estate on Sunday, he said the industrial estate would play an important role in development of the province. Secretary for industries Syed Masood Ahmed Hashmi and Gwadar Industrial Estate project director M. B. Magsi were present.

Jam Yousuf said Gwadar would become a hub of economic activities in a few years because the government was providing the basic infrastructure and linking the Gwadar port with the rest of the country through a road and rail network.

He said industrial activities had started in the Gwadar estate spread over 2,000 acres.

He said that after the announcement of tax holiday and other incentives, a large number of local and foreign businessmen were investing in Gwadar in different sectors.

Mr Magsi told the chief minister that industrialists had been given possession of 25 per cent of plots in the estate and some of them had started work on their projects. He said that with the provision of power supply, some industries would start operation next year. He said that a 20MW power plant was being set up at a cost of Rs100 million.

He said work on a Rs60 million desalination plant would start soon.

He said installation of streetlights and construction of roads had been completed.