PESHAWAR, Nov 28: NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai has stressed the importance of promoting education and research in the field of engineering, especially in the mining sector.

Speaking as the chief guest at the Convocation–2007 of the NWFP University of Engineering and Technology on Wednesday, he said the province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas had ample deposits of marble, oil and gas, copper and coal and the government was following a strategy for their exploration.

He said marble cities would be established soon in Mohmand Agency and Risalpur. He said the marble deposits in Mohmand Agency were estimated to be of more than 1,400 billion tons and a huge amount in foreign exchange could be earned from them. More marble cities would be established at feasible sites, he said.

Highlighting the importance of higher education, the governor said the glory of the Muslim empire in the past was partly due to its advancement in scientific knowledge. He said the Muslim world had a wealth of minerals and oil but its combined Gross Domestic Product at around $1,100 billion was less than that of France. He said the entire Muslim world had about 50,000 scientists as compared to 35,000 in Israel.

He said the government wanted to bring leading technologies of the world to the people of the country and efforts were under way to extend high-tech education throughout the province and Fata.

The governor said Rs479 million had been spent on improvement of the university’s infrastructure and Rs6.5 billion had been approved for development of its campus at Jalozai, which would have the capacity to accommodate more than 3,000 students.

Vice-Chancellor Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani, who is the provincial caretaker minister for information and public relations, said several projects at an estimated cost of Rs9 billion were in progress at various institution.

He said about 200 PhD faculty members would be required for the Jalozai campus and 60 teachers had been sent abroad for higher studies. He said new disciplines had been introduced in the university.