PESHAWAR, July 8: Industrialists in the NWFP are no more concerned about incentives to increase productivity and make them competitive because their main worry these days is security of their lives and properties in the wake of worsening law and order situation in the provincial capital.

The disquiet of local industrialists can be judged from the fact that spending incurred on security arrangements is becoming a major component of their balance sheet.

The Hayatabad Industrial Estate (HIE), the largest in the province employing 28,000 workers, is at stone’s throw away from the adjoining Khyber Agency, where security forces are engaged in a counter-militancy campaign.

This proximity of the estate with the volatile tribal region makes industrialists vulnerable to lawlessness and at least three of them were kidnapped by some people within a short span of time. One of the kidnap victims is still untraceable. A mighty billboard carrying the picture of the kidnapped industrialist and appeals of his family for his early recovery is on display on the Jamrud Road.“Nobody (industrialists) is talking about relief in taxes; their only concern is how to protect the existing investment,” Nauman Wazir, president of the Industrialists Association of Peshawar, told Dawn here on Tuesday.

According to him, the growing sense of insecurity and incidents of kidnappings had prompted the association to take some remedial measures.

“We went to the people at the helm of affairs, but finally ended up at putting in place our own security system to protect the factories and our lives,” he said.

He regretted that the government had failed to protect the lives and properties of businessmen. He said industrialists operating in the HIE had pooled a reasonable amount of money from their own pockets to put in place a security system in the area.

He said the association had generated an initial fund of Rs2.5 million, which had been spent on purchasing two vehicles and hiring 20 private security guards. The security guards and vehicles being used by them have been provided with a wireless system for communication. Also, all the small entry and exit points to the HIE have been sealed, except for the two main outlets for general movement. The private guards also do patrolling in the industrial zone round-the-clock.

To keep a vigil on the movement of suspects in the HIE, industrialists have been issued security stickers and they have also been allowed to carry armed bodyguards along with them, as the government has given them permit for carrying weapons of prohibited bores.

The government had also notified a special body called Industrialists-Police Liaison Committee to keep coordination with police, said Mr Wazir.

The committee, he said, was headed by the president of the association, and superintendent police, cantonment, assistant superintendent of police and the station house officer of Hayatabad were its members.

Castigating the role of the Sarhad Development Authority, which is responsible for maintenance of the industrial area, the association president said they were paying heavy taxes to the authority for keeping industrial infrastructure in good condition, but on ground the authority did not exist.

Citing the example of security barricades put in place on different entry and exit points, he said the SDA had not provided any kind of financial or technical support for undertaking the task.

He was also worried about sustainability of the security cost, saying industrialists now had to pay regularly for keeping the existing system in working condition. Industrialists, he said, were expecting that the government would allocate funds in the budget for beefing up security in the HIE, but it did not happen and they had to bear the cost of security.

“For me it is another kind of taxation,” remarked Mr Wazir, adding the industrial sector of the NWFP was already paying higher taxes than Punjab and Sindh.

The NWFP government claimed to have taken improving the law and order situation as one of the priority areas in terms of budgetary allocation for financial year 2008-09.

According to the budget estimates, the government had earmarked Rs6.559 billion for the police department, mainly to be utilised on new recruitments and purchasing weapons and equipment.

But, keeping in view the situation in the sensitive place like the HIE, it seems the government has to do more to save the investment made in the area.

When contacted, Chief Capital Police Officer Dr Sulman said police had taken a number of steps for improving the security situation in the HIE, but still a lot had to be done.