PESHAWAR, Dec 29: There has been no signs of establishment of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in tribal areas, despite pledges by the US three years ago, says a report.

Prepared by the NWFP department of industries and manpower, the report also said the US-led war on terrorism being fought mainly in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, coupled with increasing incidents of kidnapping for ransom, had destroyed 80 per cent of the local economy, reducing employment opportunities by 20 per cent.

Quoting the report, sources in the department told Dawn that the US had promised three years ago to establish Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in Fata with a view to provide boost to the local industry and provide jobs to people affected by the war on terror and also to earthquake-affected people of the Hazara region.

Under the proposal, the US was to set up industrial units in Fata and earthquake-hit areas as part of the ROZs and facilitate tax-free export of products to the United States. Additionally, local people were to get jobs on priority basis in the industrial units. The idea of providing employment to the local population was meant to end terrorism.

The report said the growing wave of terrorism across Fata and the NWFP had put the plan of establishing the ROZs on the back burner and there was no progress on it despite the passage of three years. The sources said that at a later stage, the US and the government had also decided to shift the proposed construction of the ROZs from Fata to settled areas due to the deteriorating law and order situation.

There were also plans to identify land in the Shah Kas area near Hayatabad for the proposed ROZs, but that plan also did not materialise, the report added.

It said kidnapping for ransom of traders had also cut the industrial and economic growth of Fata and the NWFP by 80 per cent and the situation was going from bad to worse.

The report said that of the 1,474 industrial plots in the province, 280 units had been declared sick. Under the ROZs, the government had planned to have 803 new units in order to boost the local economy and produce jobs. According to the report, the province had 394 industrial units in operational condition in the five industrial zones, including Peshawar, Risalpur, Haripur, Gadoon Amazai and the Risalpur processing zone.

Besides making operational the units located in the industrial zones, the government also planned to restart 500 units located in places other than the industrial zones, which had been closed for different reasons.

The report said the province and the tribal region were not only facing the problem of sick and closed industrial units, but hundreds of people had also shifted their investment due to the law and order situation.

Closure of factories in the violence-wracked Swat district had also hit hard the local economy, it added. Besides, businesses in Mohmand and North and South Waziristan agencies had also been affected, it said.

The report said the province had 1,351 empty plots in the small industrial zones because the people were not ready to invest their money due to the prevalent law and order situation.

“The plan for establishing ROZs is in the cold storage despite the provincial government’s readiness to facilitate its setting up elsewhere in the province. But indications are that the plan has been put off by the US,” the sources added.