PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Pakistan Army-run Frontier Works Organisation on Monday signed four agreements for Rs1.173 trillion worth of development projects in the province.

The agreement signing ceremony took place at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and was attended by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, chief secretary Abid Saeed, additional chief secretary Mohammad Azam Khan, FWO director general Lt-Gen Mohammad Afzal and engineering chief Lt-Gen Khalid Asghar.

The agreements were for the development of the Peshawar Model and Smart City Township and KP China Investment Plan-M1 City Nowshera, execution of three hydropower plants in Chitral, and establishment of a cement plant in Haripur and an oil refinery in Karak.

The CM later told reporters that the projects pitched the highest ever investment in the province.

Agreements are for housing, hydropower, cement, oil refinery schemes

He said the government had begun negotiations with the FWO for the projects six month ago.

Mr Khattak said the government had made up its mind to construct a modern housing scheme in Peshawar over a land of 108,000 kanals, bigger than the modern Hayatabad Township, and the M1 City Nowshera along the Motorway over an area of 80,000 kanals.

He said both the schemes would cost Rs920 billion.

The CM said the construction of housing facilities was necessitated by the growing chances of investment in the backdrop of KP China Investment Plan.

He said both the schemes would provide housing space for a population of one million with commercial and modern facilities within those housing projects.

“We (government) will get a net profit of Rs50 billion without investing a single penny in both the housing schemes,” he said.

Mr Khattak said the housing schemes were necessary due to the upcoming foreign and domestic investment in the region. He said the three hydropower projects costing Rs104 billion would generate 600 megawatts of electricity, overcoming the shortage of electricity and meeting the growing need for the upcoming industrialisation process.

The CM said the province needed electricity for industrialisation after the investment agreements with foreign investors. He said the provincial government would get a reasonable share in the hydropower projects without making any investment.

Mr Khattak said the agreement for Karak oil refinery was another landmark step.

“The FWO will construct an oil refinery at the cost Rs65 billion, which will produce 40,000 barrels oil a day. This will lead to encourage more refineries in the province, including the expansion of this one,” he said.

The CM said the fourth agreement was about the establishment of a cement plant in Haripur with an investment of Rs18 billion and that he hoped that his government would get a reasonable profit through it.

“These are the solid steps my government has taken for encouraging investment in the province. The province has natural advantages and a number of spots and areas that his government has opened up for both domestic and foreign investors,” he said. Mr Khattak said the government would get a net profit in all those areas without investing a single penny.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017